Starbucks is a near and dear organization to me and I often find myself visiting there more
than I should. A part of what Starbucks does for addressing sustainability is address hunger
relief, which the FY20 status shows the following, “74% of U.S. company-operated stores
donated available food, resulting in more than 8.9 million meals donated. 28.6 million meals
rescued since program inception in 2016” (Global Environmental & Social Impact Report,
2021). Another example of addressing sustainability is addressing Carbon, Water, and Waste
which has vastly affected our planet, Starbucks has done the following, “11% reduction
compared to FY19 for carbon emissions, 4% reduction compared to FY19 on water
conservations and joined the Water Resilience Coalition, and lastly, 12% reduction
compared to FY19 for reduction in waste sent to landfills” (Global Environmental & Social
Impact Report, 2021). c In addition to the abovementioned improvements, Starbucks is
vested in “managing waste, sourcing renewable energy, operating greener stores,
partnering with greener partners worldwide, as well as ethically sourcing coffee” (Global
Environmental & Social Impact Report, 2021).
Starbucks is working towards rendering better sustainable options with the hopes of
becoming more sustainable and has measures in place to aid in doing so. Although the
global pandemic made this movement more challenging, Starbucks remained resilient in this
movement and plans on continued improvement in future years. Although sustainability
comes at the initial cost of generating less revenue, Starbucks reported, “Lost sales of
approximately $1.2 billion relative to the company’s expectations before the outbreak
included the effects of modified operations, reduced hours, reduced customer traffic and
temporary store closures” (Borges, 2020). With the dollar value of lost revenue is shocking
to see, Starbucks is fully capable of financially recovering from this loss with its numerous
sustainable practices in place.
It is my opinion that Starbucks’ efforts to become more sustainable and ethically sourced is
a smart move. Starbucks is a very large and successful organization and has been notorious
for being consumer focused and has a long-standing reputation of being reputable in the
business world. Although they do desire to be profitable, they are looking at a way of being
more sustainably focused and realize that their success has come at a cost for our planet
and is looking to improve its footprint.
For this week's discussion, I have picked the L'Oréal company. I do not wear makeup myself,
but I know that L'Oréal sells a wide range of beauty and skincare products. When I opened
the company website, I immediately noticed that L'Oréal applies the Triple Bottom Line
framework to their business. In fact, they specifically mention their commitment to "the
planet, the people, and products" (L'Oréal, 2021). In their 2030 sustainability commitment
booklet, CEO Jean-Paul Agon reflects on past and current sustainability goals and shares the
environmental and social goals the company has dedicated itself to for the next eight years.
L'Oréal consumes a massive amount of natural resources to manufacture its beauty
products. The company's four big sustainability goals include:
Optimizing packaging
Creating eco-friendly formulas that reduce water footprint
Respecting the environment by reducing carbon emissions, waste, and water consumption
Empowering women by investing in environmental projects
The biggest issue inherent to the beauty industry is the environmental damage done every
year. For example, packaging destroys over 18 million acres of forest annually (Sherriff,
2019). Then, there is the fact that L'Oréal uses about 1,600 raw materials from 350 plants
and consumes many natural resources, such as water. Nevertheless, L'Oréal has achieved
great success already. The company uses recycled PET plastic for over 76% of its products
and has pledged to source its raw materials 100% sustainable by 2030 (L'Oréal, 2021).
To tackle its water consumption issue, L'Oréal decided to decrease its amount of water in
formulas and business operations. It is a noble goal that seems complicated to reach. The
goal in business is to expand and sell more continually, but how can L'Oréal sell more if the
decreased water use creates fewer products and reduces profits in return? Furthermore, by
sourcing its materials sustainably, L'Oréal will increase product costs significantly. However,
I believe taking these risks is worthwhile, and L'Oréal does, too. Otherwise, they would not
have committed to these goals. L'Oréal has built an empire that depends on nature to
function. Therefore, it is in its best interest to preserve natural resources and work on ways
to exist in the future. The company's goals make sense from another often overlooked
business perspective. In 2019 millennials stood as the largest generational consumer group
(Fry, 2020). Environmentally friendly products are essential to this generation (Choudhary,
2020). It has become apparent that environmentally friendly products will become the
standard soon. It's a future some companies want to be ready for.
Susanne
References
Choudhary, A. (2020, August 18). Generation Green is leading the Sustainability Agenda.
Retrieved from https://www.capgemini.com/2020/08/generation-green-is-leading-the-
sustainability-agenda/
Fry, R. (2021, May 28). Millennials overtake baby boomers as America's largest generation.
Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-
baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/
L'Oréal. (2020, January 23). L'Oréal group: Commitments & Responsibilities. Retrieved from
https://www.loreal.com/en/commitments-and-responsibilities/
Borges, R. (2020, October 29). Starbucks Reports Q4 Fiscal 2020 Results.
Investor.starbucks.com. https://investor.starbucks.com/press-releases/financial-
releases/press-release-details/2020/Starbucks-Reports-Q4-Fiscal-2020-Results/default.aspx
Global Environmental & Social Impact Report. (2021). Starbucks Corporation.
https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2021/04/2020-Starbucks-GESI-Report-Supporting-
Documents.pdf
