L’Oréal Groupe ANZ has announced a new partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF).
L’Oréal Groupe says the company is reinforcing its “longstanding commitment” to biodiversity with its sixth investment in coral reef regeneration with the GBRF.
Through the €50 million Fund for Nature Regeneration, which has committed more than €28 million in projects to-date, the company says it’s engaging with partners with proven expertise to support in the regeneration of nature such as the GBRF.
“I’m delighted to announce one of the largest investments with the Great Barrier Reef foundation as part of the €50 million L’Oréal Fund for Nature Regeneration,” says L’Oréal ANZ CEO Alex Davison.
“Our objective is to plant two million heat-tolerant corals on the Great Barrier Reef by 2035 and to catalyse a new market for sustainable funding of these interventions based on a Coral Biodiversity Credit (CBC) scheme.
“The L’Oréal Groupe understands we have a role to play to contribute to important causes such as improving ocean and reef health.”
The 10-year commitment from L’Oréal will fund an “integral component” of the “world-leading” Reef Restoration and Adaption Program (RRAP), a collaboration of Australia’s “leading” science organisations and the GBRF to restore coral reefs in different ways.
As well as “unlocking significant and required” funding to sustain reef restoration efforts, the partnership will support “critical reef interventions” including the targeted deployment of two million heat-tolerant corals on the Great Barrier Reef by 2035. Corals with increased heat tolerance have the potential to reduce the impact of reef bleaching from marine heat waves.
The partnership will also see the development of a “world-first” method of calculating the value of coral reef biodiversity and support the deployment of corals with improved temperature tolerance. It’s hoped that the new methodology will enable a nature repair market and unlock “much-needed” funding for “vital” reef conservation efforts.