L’Oréal’s sustainability strategies: Text mining of environmental disclosures in the cosmetics industry

Research question: How does L'Oréal create and communicate its environmental sustainability in public reports?Motivation: Sustainability in the cosmetics industry has been widely examined from technical perspectives, including ingredients, green chemistry, raw materials and life-cycle impacts, there is not much attention that has been given to how companies publicly frame environmental responsibility and translate these concerns into corporate strategy and reporting.Idea: This study examines the evolution of L'Oréal's environmental sustainability discourse and its relationship with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on SDGs 12, 13, 14 and 15.The analysis considers whether changes in sustainability communication reflect a shift from explicit SDG-oriented objectives towards a reporting focused on governance and risks.Data: The study analyzes L'Oréal's annual reports, Universal Registration Documents, and due diligence for 2020-2024, complemented by financial and sustainability indicators from the LSEG Refinitiv Eikon database, including revenue, gross margin, environmental pillar scores and SDG reporting status.Tools: A mixed-methods approach was used, combining quantitative analysis with qualitative text mining.