L’Oréal USA Earns Spot on EPA’s Green Power List

L’Oréal USA’s efforts to expand the use of renewable energy has placed it on EPA’s Green Power Partnership (GPP) Top 100 list of the country’s largest green power users.


L’Oréal USA uses more than 86 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which reportedly represents 96% of its total power needs. L’Oréal USA was one of the companies that showed the biggest increase in green power use and made one of the most dramatic moves up the ranking since the last update.


The GPP is a voluntary program of the US EPA to help increase the use of green power; i.e., zero-emissions electricity from renewable sources, among US organizations, so as to reduce the environmental impacts tied to conventional electricity use. Its National Top 100 list represents the largest green power users within the Partnership, who combine for more than 34 billion kilowatt-hours annually.


This ranking is evidence of L’Oréal USA’s accelerated transition to renewable energy across its operations. The company’s first foray into solar energy was in 2011 with an installation at its Piscataway, NJ manufacturing facility. During the past seven years, the company has developed 16 solar installations, generating a total of 13.5 megawatts of energy and representing over 42 miles of solar panels. Nationwide, L’Oréal USA is now recognized as a leader in solar energy, and has been continuously named one of the top 25 companies for US solar capacity by the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA). 


“We are proud to be recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency for our green power use,” said Jay Harf, vice president of environment, health, safety and sustainability. “By making the choice to use clean, renewable energy, our organization becomes more sustainable while also sending a message that using green power is a sound business decision and an important tool in reducing one’s carbon footprint in the fight against climate change.”


L’Oréal USA has favored as much onsite generation of green power as possible to help achieve its goal of 100% renewable electricity for its operations. Last October, L’Oréal USA announced large-scale, on-site solar projects for its two manufacturing plants in North Little Rock, Arkansas and Florence, Kentucky to be completed in 2017. These projects, alongside the purchase of locally-sourced renewable energy certificates, helped the company to achieve 100% renewable electricity for its US manufacturing in 2016.


L’Oréal also appears on EPA’s Long-term Green Power Contracts list, recognizing the company’s 15-year contract to purchase green power.  According to the US EPA, L’Oréal’s green power use of more than 86 million kWh is equivalent to the electricity use of nearly 8,000 average American homes annually.