09.20.21
Major players in the global beauty industry have come together to create a sustainability scoring system for beauty products. Unilever, Henkel, L’Oréal, LVMH and Natura & Co will develop an environmental impact scoring system for beauty products as part of a new consortium across the beauty and cosmetics industries. The aim is to co-design an approach that is brand-agnostic and provides consumers with clear, transparent and comparable environmental impact information based on a common science-based methodology.
All inaugural members of the group are in Happi's The Top 30, our international article on the leading players in the global household and personal products industry. At its inception, the group has no US based members, but the founding firms are urging other companies in the beauty space to join them.
"Many of us want to make more considered choices in our lives, but it’s not always easy to know the environmental impact we are making through simple things like selecting which soap to buy, or which shampoo to use," observed Unilever CEO Sunny Jain. “This is where the new consortium can make a difference. Working alongside our peer companies, we’re aiming to provide people with easy-to-understand, transparent and comparable information, based on a robust scientific approach. This will support the one billion people who use our Unilever beauty and personal care products every day to make even more informed choices.”
The group is working with Quantis, a sustainability consulting firm, to ensure a robust and scientific approach, and that efforts to co-build the voluntary assessment methodology and scoring system are guided by and articulated around:
It will be up to each brand to individually decide how it wishes to disclose the environmental impact to consumers.
This global initiative is intended to be open to all cosmetics companies, regardless of their size or resources. Other stakeholders will be informed and consulted throughout the process. The initial five companies will pool their experience and knowledge in developing environmental impact assessment methodologies (as is the case for Henkel, LVMH, Natura &Co and Unilever) and an environmental and social labeling system (as developed by L’Oréal). All companies will benefit from this pre-existing work and are invited to contribute their own experience. The consortium will also be consulting with external experts, including scientists, academics and NGOs, to ensure the ongoing integrity of the approach. The work developed by the consortium will be published and made accessible on a strictly voluntary basis by both consortium participants and all other interested parties.
All inaugural members of the group are in Happi's The Top 30, our international article on the leading players in the global household and personal products industry. At its inception, the group has no US based members, but the founding firms are urging other companies in the beauty space to join them.
"Many of us want to make more considered choices in our lives, but it’s not always easy to know the environmental impact we are making through simple things like selecting which soap to buy, or which shampoo to use," observed Unilever CEO Sunny Jain. “This is where the new consortium can make a difference. Working alongside our peer companies, we’re aiming to provide people with easy-to-understand, transparent and comparable information, based on a robust scientific approach. This will support the one billion people who use our Unilever beauty and personal care products every day to make even more informed choices.”
The group is working with Quantis, a sustainability consulting firm, to ensure a robust and scientific approach, and that efforts to co-build the voluntary assessment methodology and scoring system are guided by and articulated around:
- A common method for measuring environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of products, backed by the principles of the ‘Product Environmental Footprint’ (the European Union’s PEF scientific method for quantifying the environmental footprint of products);
- A common database of environmental impacts of standard ingredients and raw materials used in formulas and packaging, as well as during product usage;
- A common tool that enables each brand to calculate the environmental impact of individual products, usable by non-experts; and
- A harmonized scoring system, for example using a score ranging from A to E, that enables the consumer to easily compare products. The methodology, data base, tool and scoring system will be verified by independent parties.
It will be up to each brand to individually decide how it wishes to disclose the environmental impact to consumers.
This global initiative is intended to be open to all cosmetics companies, regardless of their size or resources. Other stakeholders will be informed and consulted throughout the process. The initial five companies will pool their experience and knowledge in developing environmental impact assessment methodologies (as is the case for Henkel, LVMH, Natura &Co and Unilever) and an environmental and social labeling system (as developed by L’Oréal). All companies will benefit from this pre-existing work and are invited to contribute their own experience. The consortium will also be consulting with external experts, including scientists, academics and NGOs, to ensure the ongoing integrity of the approach. The work developed by the consortium will be published and made accessible on a strictly voluntary basis by both consortium participants and all other interested parties.