The Environmental Impact of Beauty: Why Industry Needs to Measure, Act and Communicate via Cosmetics Design-Europe

Measuring the environmental impact of the entire beauty industry is no easy feat, but one made a lot easier with collaboration, data-led mapping and engagement across the entire supply chain – from farmers to consumers, say industry experts.

In recent years, there had been a raft of industry movements and pledges made around measuring the environmental impact of beauty. In September 2021, a group of leading beauty majors founded the EcoBeautyScore Consortium, designed to establish a brand-agnostic and transparent global environmental impact scoring system. In January 2022, a set of B Corp certified beauty firms created the B Corp Beauty Coalition to drive open sustainable collaboration amongst industry. And in May 2022, Estée Lauder Companies published a method to score ingredients, formulations and products on their green value – following on closely from L’Oréal’s move to launch a sustainability impact score tool for its Garnier brand in France back in June 2020.

Most recently, trade association Cosmetics Europe unveiled its ‘Commit for Our Planet’ eco initiative last week, designed to spearhead collaborative action across beauty’s entire supply chain in Europe to reduce carbon footprints, protect biodiversity and advance sustainable packaging efforts.

But how easy was it really to measure the environmental impact of beauty? And did this need to be done case-by-case or collaboratively? A dedicated panel discussed these ideas at this year’s Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in Paris, last month.