The current CEO of L'Oréal China Stephane Rinderknech (left) and the new CEO Fabrice Megarbane (right). Photo: Courtesy of L'Oréal China

Fabrice Megarbane, was appointed as the CEO of L'Oréal China on Monday and will be taking office on July 1. Meanwhile, Megarbane will become the member of the management committee of L'Oreal Group. Stephane Rinderknech, the current CEO of L'Oréal China, will move up to other key posts within the group.

L'Oréal has been deeply engaged in the Chinese market for 22 years. Under the leadership of the three CEOs, L'Oréal has grown from a start-up company to the largest cosmetics group in China, which has now become the second largest market for the group. The company's slogan in China is "putting a lipstick in the hand of every Chinese woman."

Megarbane joined L'Oréal in 2000. In 2008 he was appointed as general manager of L'Oréal Lebanon, and was the group's youngest country general manager at that time. In terms of China, he said that China is his dream and he has been to a dozen cities in the past three months. "The more I know about this country, the more I love it," he said. "China is a land of vitality and opportunity. People are longing for a better life, which makes me feel very excited and confident that the future space [L'Oréal China] is immeasurable."

Following the announcement, Megarbane attended the "zero carbon" launch ceremony at the L'Oréal Suzhou plant in Suzhou Industrial Park with current CEO Rinderknech, and some senior leaders from L'Oréal Asia Pacific and China. The plant is L'Oréal's earliest investment in the Chinese market, with a total construction area of about 60,000 square meters, and is the largest L'Oréal plant in all of the Asia-Pacific region.

The Suzhou plant has achieved zero carbon emissions through the use of solar energy, wind energy and biomass power supply. In April 2014, the company installed a solar powered generation system with the capacity of 1.5 mW in their plant, and after some upgrades, the plant finally achieved the "zero carbon" goal, and received the auditing recognition through a third-party environmental consulting firm this month.

L'Oréal China has become the group's first "zero carbon" market with complete operating facilities including factories, R&D and innovation centers, offices and distribution centers, marking L'Oréal's determination to maintain high quality, sustainable, steady and strong development in China.

"The Suzhou plant is the starting point for L'Oréal's development in China, and the starting point of our pursuance towards the dream of beauty in China," Rinderknech said at the ceremony. "The realization of 'zero carbon' is a symbol that our development in China has entered a new round of strategic upgrading. With Fabrice joining in, it will certainly add new impetus to L'Oréal's long-term, stable and inclusive development in China."