Timber

Timber Action Plan

Building upon The Estée Lauder Companies’ (ELC) No Deforestation, Peat, or Exploitation (NDPE) Commitment, the company has developed the following commodity-specific action plan to address timber-based packaging materials.

This plan applies to applicable materials¹ purchased directly by ELC and includes all sourcing regions, operations, and direct suppliers from whom we source timber-based packaging materials.

ELC has identified the following three key focus areas where we intend to build upon current policies and procedures to further our progress on responsibly sourcing timber-based packaging materials:

Procurement Sustainability

ELC endeavors to source our timber-based packaging materials responsibly with respect for local communities and the environment. We require our suppliers to adhere to the principles outlined in our Supplier Code of Conduct and NDPE policy.

We assess compliance with these responsible sourcing policies through supplier sustainability performance, increased transparency, and third-party certification to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Principles and Criteria. FSC has established a cut-off date for deforestation or conversion of December 2020.¹FSC’s Principles and Criteria requires that suppliers are aligned to sustainable timber sourcing principles, including but not limited to the following:

• Conserve and/or restore ecosystem services. Avoid, repair, or mitigate negative environmental impacts
• Maintain and/or enhance high conservation values
• Legal Compliance
• Protection of workers’ rights and employment conditions, including no child labor, no forced or compulsory labor, no discrimination and implementation of health and safety practices.
• Uphold Indigenous peoples' legal and customary rights
• Contribute to maintaining or enhancing the social and economic wellbeing of local communities

In 2019, ELC set the ambition to use responsibly sourced paper products whenever possible with a goal to have 100% of our forest-based fiber cartons FSC certified by 2025. To see our latest progress, visit our latest Social Impact and Sustainability Report.

ELC plans to continue its procurement of responsible timber-based packaging materials by:

1. Continuing to make progress against our ambition to use responsibly sourced paper products whenever possible with a goal to have 100% of our forest-based fiber cartons FSC certified by 2025
2. Increasing, whenever possible, the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials supporting our broader packaging sustainability goals or using alternative fibers in our packaging
3. Continuing to assess key suppliers’ environmental impact, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement practices through EcoVadis²
4. Engaging key suppliers in CDP Forests³ and offering training on our NDPE policy and Timber Action Plan

Monitoring & Transparency

ELC is committed to monitoring and transparency by:

1. Continuing to responsibly source FSC certified timber-based packaging materials whenever possible, enabling visibility to country of harvest and alignment to sustainable timber sourcing principles.
2. Continuing to transparently report progress through CDP Forests, the leading framework for disclosing forests-related information publicly
3. Continuing to monitor our supplier’s sustainability performance through our Supplier Code of Conduct program and the implementation of our NDPE Policy

Landscape Partnerships

In addition to our Sustainable Procurement and Supplier Monitoring and Transparency efforts we support landscape partnerships that help to safeguard and restore the health of forests for future generations. ELC is committed to collaborating with different stakeholders to leverage best practices, provide capability building, drive and scale positive impact for communities, drive innovation and address challenges associated with sourcing of more responsible timber-based packaging materials.

Partnerships include:

Conservation International Project

Nature-based solutions, such as forest conservation, are critical to limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Through The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation’s (ELCCF) partnership with Conservation International (CI), we’re helping to sequester carbon and mitigate global climate change by supporting Indigenous women and their communities to conserve forests and biodiversity across the Amazon in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In these areas, ancient forests that store and absorb high amounts of carbon from our atmosphere are being cut down, while women and their communities are often left without environmental and economic opportunity. That’s why we’re proud to expand CI’s Amazon Indigenous Women’s Fellowship Program in these key ecosystems. Through the support of this grant, nine Indigenous women fellows will be supported in year one of the program which aims to foster women’s leadership in areas that are essential for forest conservation, climate security, biodiversity and Indigenous culture. The fellows are helping to conserve more than 550,000 hectares of irreplaceable high-carbon forests and biodiversity in the Amazon, sequestering 20 million tons of irrecoverable carbon.

ELC Brand Project

Origins, a brand with a deep-rooted connection to nature, has joined forces with environmental nonprofit organizations to support tree-planting efforts, help restore ecosystems, benefit local communities, and fight climate change. Through these charitable programs, the brand has funded the planting of and caring for more than 2.3 Million trees since 2009.

In fiscal 2021, Origins launched the Green the Planet Fund to simultaneously address global warming and to support the work of environmental justice organizations to trigger real, meaningful change in the lives of people impacted by climate change. Origins Green the Planet has partnered with global environmental organization, One Tree Planted, to support the planting of and caring of trees year over year in projects spanning Asia, Europe, and North America. For more information, please visit the Origins website.

Commitment to Accountability

ELC recognizes this commitment is a journey and we expect to continue to evolve our approach through annual reviews of this action plan in partnership with our partners and other stakeholders. We plan to share and update our progress on priority areas, including FSC certification, and landscape partnerships on an annual basis, through our Social Impact and Sustainability Report and CDP Forests.

¹ Folding cartons, carriers, corrugate, leaflets, liners, set up boxes and tissue paper

² Sustainability ratings platform in the areas of environmental impact, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement (https://ecovadis.com/solutions/ratings/)

³ CDP Forests provides a framework of action for companies to measure and manage forest-related risks and opportunities, transparently report on progress, and commit to proactive action for the restoration of forests and ecosystems (https://www.cdp.net/en/forests)

¹FSC Motion 37 from October 2022

Published: June 2022
Latest Update: June 2023