
Nature as capital: L’OCCITANE Group engages in Climate Week NYC

Recently, New York City became the global hub for climate and sustainability leadership at Climate Week NYC, which ran from 21 to 28 September 2025. The world-leading event – the biggest of its kind – was held in parallel with the United Nations General Assembly and brought together more than 900 events and thousands of leaders from business, government, academia and environmental agencies. Under the theme ‘Power On with Purpose’, the focus this year was clear: translating sustainability ambition into measurable, practical action and demonstrating that investing in nature is an investment in resilience and growth.
For L’OCCITANE Group, participation in Climate Week NYC was an opportunity to reinforce its core belief that long-term business performance depends on the health of natural ecosystems and the people who sustain them. The company joined global peers to share concrete examples of how nature can be treated not as a cost, but as capital.
Nature as a strategic asset
A highlight of the week was the Nature Hub event held on 23 September by Maison L’Occitane en Provence, the L’OCCITANE Group’s heritage brand which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026. The Maison co-hosted a flagship roundtable with Business for Nature entitled, ‘From Seed to Bloom: How Nature Anchors and Elevates Business.’ Moderated by Eva Zabey, CEO of Business for Nature, the session explored how nature could drive long-term business performance. It included participation by Adrien Geiger, CEO of L’Occitane en Provence, and Raphaëlle Archambeaud, Chief Sustainability Officer, along with sustainability leaders from Mastercard, Danone North America, and WWF US, calling for a new business mindset.
CEO of L’Occitane en Provence
Nature is not a cost; it’s a source of capital,’ he said. ‘We no longer view nature protection as a symbolic gesture. It is tangible capital that creates value, secures our supply chain and ensures our long-term resilience. It is an investment in our future.
Adrien Geiger emphasised that businesses must move beyond asking why to act for nature and instead focus on how to embed it into corporate strategy. ‘At L’Occitane en Provence, we are integrating nature into every aspect of our model from regenerative agriculture to circular design,’ he explained. ‘Our goal is 100% regenerative sourcing for our key ingredients and 50% circularity in our material use by 2030. This is not philanthropy, it’s strategy. It builds loyalty, strengthens partnerships with farmers, and supports business continuity.’
A scientific and collaborative approach
Raphaëlle Archambeaud, Chief Sustainability Officer, highlighted how effective nature action must be rooted in science, partnerships, and local engagement. ‘Our vision is grounded in action, and built on three pillars: investing in our key supply chains, supporting agricultural transitions, and collaborating beyond our value chain through expert partnerships,’ she said.
Raphaëlle shared examples from the company’s 40-year commitment to women’s cooperatives in West Africa for Shea butter production and new projects supporting regenerative farming and forest management. ‘Our latest initiative focuses on the Shea tree ecosystem itself,’ she explained. ‘By protecting forests and supporting local communities, we’re demonstrating that business can be a driver of regeneration.’ She also underlined the importance of working collectively. ‘Every company must not only act within its own supply chain, but across territories and sectors. Only through collaboration can we achieve landscape-level change.’
Recognition and leadership
Maison L’Occitane en Provence’s active participation in Climate Week NYC 2025 underscored the broader Group commitment to sustainability and responsible growth. As a B Corp certified company, it has already proven its commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, using its global influence to drive positive environmental and social impact.
At the B Local NYC BEAM Awards Convivium, the company received the National Trust Builder Award from the B Corp Community, recognising its progress on equity-based initiatives aimed at providing a living wage for all employees — a reflection of L’OCCITANE Group’s conviction that environmental and social performance are inseparable.
L’Occitane en Provence also contributed to Plastic Odyssey’s ‘The Ocean Awakens’ event, where Raphaëlle Archambeaud spoke about how businesses can take practical steps to improve circularity. L’Occitane en Provence has supported Plastic Odyssey for six years, advancing the circular economy and raising awareness on ocean protection.
Amid Climate Week NYC, Sol de Janeiro, the Group’s award-winning global beauty brand recognised for its multi-sensorial products and Brazilian-inspired ethos, announced the launch of the Sol de Janeiro Foundation, with an initial commitment of US$7 million dedicated to biodiversity protection and women’s empowerment across Brazil and beyond. The Foundation will support projects that advance social and environmental regeneration through partnerships with organisations such as BrazilFoundation, Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPÊ), SOS Mata Atlântica and the Girls Opportunity Alliance.
Across the week, one message resonated throughout the Group’s engagements: businesses are moving from ambition to implementation. Despite global uncertainty, corporate commitment to nature-positive action is rising and collaboration across industries is accelerating.
Powering on with purpose
The 2025 theme ‘Power On with Purpose’ perfectly captured the spirit of L’OCCITANE Group’s approach. In a landscape where environmental progress must be matched by measurable outcomes, the company reaffirmed its determination to integrate nature into its business model, guided by science, transparency and performance. As Adrien Geiger, CEO of L’Occitane en Provence, concluded: ‘Ecosystem services provide an estimated 140 trillion dollars in value each year. When we destroy nature, we erode the foundation of our own economies. The question is no longer why we should act but how we embed nature in business with discipline, KPIs, and clear governance.’
From Geneva to New York, through Provence, Brazil and beyond, L’OCCITANE Group continues to prove that purpose and performance go hand in hand. Through regenerative sourcing, circularity, and social equity, the Group is helping redefine what sustainable business success looks like and proving that when nature thrives, business does too.