Henkel, L’Oréal, LVMH, Natura &Co, and Unilever are the founders of a new cosmetics consortium to co-design an environmental impact assessment and scoring system.
Motivated by the growing consumer demand for greater transparency about the environmental impact of cosmetics products (formula, packaging and usage), manufacturers are teaming up to improve the information that is available to consumers and enable them to make more sustainable consumption choices.
Henkel, L’Oréal, LVMH, Natura &Co, and Unilever have announced a new global collaboration to co-develop an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for cosmetics products. The 5 founders are inviting the whole cosmetics sector to join in a Consortium with the aim to co-design what they called a “brand-agnostic approach”. The final goal is to offer consumers clear, transparent and comparable environmental impact information, based on a common science-based methodology.
Philippe Osset, an expert in the application of life cycle assessment to eco-design, a consultant providing expertise for the European Commission and AFNOR (Association française de normalisation, French Standardization Association) said: “It is possible for the cosmetics sector, as has happened in other sectors, to build a scientific environmental impact assessment of their products, based on a full life cycle assessment. It requires a cross-industry pooling of knowledge and expertise, particularly concerning the environmental impact data; this is exactly what the consortium founding members are embarking on.”
Once the new consortium online tools are available, consumers will be able to compare cosmetics products within the same category, taking into account the whole product life cycle.
Working with sustainability consultancy Quantis, the consortium wants to ensure a robust and scientific approach. They will implement also a common database of environmental impacts of standard ingredients and raw materials used in formulas and packaging. A common tool that enables each brand to calculate the environmental impact of individual products, usable by non-experts.
This global initiative is intended to be open to all cosmetics companies, regardless of their size or resources. The convening five companies will pool their experience and knowledge in developing environmental impact assessment methodologies and an environmental and social labelling system. All participating 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.
