Scent & Care

— Financial support of CRIEPPAM for energy-efficient harvesting and distillation of lavender

— Superior essential oil quality

— Improves environmental footprint of key natural raw materials

Symrise supports the French Research Institute CRIEPPAM in its environmental efforts to improve energy efficiency during lavender harvesting and distillation. The process will also considerably increase the quality of the essential oil obtained.

Lavender from the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region in France has always been an important ingredient for perfumery. Symrise purchases large quantities of lavender essential oil from the region for its perfume creations. Energy consumption for harvesting and distillation represents a substantial portion of the environmental footprint of the natural raw material.


As part of its sustainability program, Symrise has now opted to support the French Research Institute CRIEPPAM (Centre Régionalisé Interprofessionel d'Expérimentation en Plantes à Parfum Aromatiques et Médicinales) in its environmental efforts to improve energy efficiency of these processes. To help the organization achieve these goals, Symrise will provide financial support in order to continue the research activities aimed at improving the energy consumption of the “Espieur” harvesting system and the downstream distillation process.

According to Benoît Cassan, chairman of CRIEPPAM, “the Espieur harvesting machine developed by CRIEPPAM is expected to save 30 % of energy during steam distillation by picking up the flowers without the stems.” This considerably increases the quality of the essential oil as the scent is mainly concentrated in the blossoms. Symrise perfumers confirm the remarkable quality of the Espieur type essential oil. Alexandra Carlin, Fine Fragrance Perfumer at Symrise in Paris, explained “The Espieur oil smells more modern and contemporary. That makes it perfectly suited for sophisticated perfume creations. We are very lucky to have this quality in our palette.” Joachim Correll, Symrise Master Perfumer in Brazil, remarked “The Symrise Espieur Lavandin has tremendous effects on naturalness and freshness.”

“Above all, this collaboration allows CRIEPPAM to involve perfumers as the end users of our research work. In turn, this enables a rapid and full adaptation to market expectations. The financial contribution from Symrise also helps us to improve our self-financing,” said Eric Chaisse, Director of CRIEPPAM.

“Symrise is a leading company in sustainable sourcing. As such, we are playing a key role in shaping the entire supply chain by helping to implement best environmental practices. By doing so, we aim to improve the footprint of important natural raw materials,” said Anne Cabotin, Vice President Scent & Care Sustainability Strategy at Symrise.

Symrise is committed to decreasing its carbon footprint by 33 % by 2020 as well as to involving upstream supply chains, with a long term goal of ensuring that 100 % of its strategic raw materials are sustainably sourced.