NAOS: Training 3,500 employees to transform the cosmetics industry
Written by Valentina Zajackowski
Bioderma, Institut Esthederm, Etat Pur: three iconic brands from the dermo-cosmetics sector united under the NAOS group. With 3,500 employees across 43 subsidiaries and products sold in 130 countries, the group faces the major environmental challenges of its industry.
But NAOS has a distinctive feature: owned by a non-profit endowment fund, the company benefits from independence that allows it to envisage its sustainable transition over the long term.
Aude Heinisch leads the group’s CSR transformation around five priorities: carbon reduction across all scopes, water management, biodiversity preservation, packaging circularity and waste reduction.
CSR as a transformation tool
Faced with a certain “backlash” in 2025 on environmental issues, NAOS is staying the course. For Aude Heinisch, the reason is simple: “We have never viewed CSR as a constraint; rather, it is a transformation tool.”
The group is working on three complementary levers: integrating CSR more deeply into strategy and processes, involving suppliers and subcontractors in the approach, and cooperating with sector competitors. This last dimension is reflected in particular through participation in several consortia, including one on ingredient traceability.
The Naos CSR School: training to engage all functions
The major challenge identified by NAOS? Aligning the entire company and all functions to make sustainable transformation a truly collective project. After several years of experimentation with various formats on a voluntary basis, the group took a new step forward with the Climate School.
“With the Climate School, we found a solution that truly met our needs: a common foundation for everyone, complemented by more specific training modules depending on functions – HR, R&D, marketing, sales, etc.”
The platform, available in numerous languages, enables the group’s 43 subsidiaries worldwide to be reached. The short, accessible content addresses both the global context and the specific challenges for each function, to facilitate action.
Internal feedback is unanimous, with some employees even asking if they could share the videos with their families.
NAOS now plans to build a community of ambassadors to support the internal cultural change. The group has also co-developed the Cosmetics Fresco with its trade federation and several competitors, to deepen understanding of the sector’s specific challenges.
Download the complete interview below to discover all the details of this ongoing transformation.
