Major developments in green materials, sustainability metrics, ethical labels, and digital marketing will be featured in the European edition of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit. The summit will be hosted at the Paris Marriott Champs-Elysées on 21-23rd October.
With cosmetic and ingredient firms under growing pressure to reduce their environmental impacts, sustainability metrics are gaining popularity. The opening session of the Summit will therefore look at popular approaches to measure environmental and social footprints. Elizabeth Laville, Founder and Director of Utopies, will present the latest sustainability metrics on cosmetic products. Yves Rocher will show how it is using such metrics in its sustainability strategy, whilst Bruno Garnier from Carrefour will state how the supermarket chain is addressing its packaging impacts. Vicky Murray from Neal’s Yard Remedies will outline the steps it has taken to become the first carbon-neutral retailer in the UK.
The green materials session will give an update on the growing array of sustainable ingredients available to product developers and formulators. Henrik Vingaard, Sourcing Director of AAK, will highlight the pitfalls and opportunities when sourcing raw materials from Africa. Active Concepts will show how sustainable extraction methods can help with product innovations. As the cosmetics industry looks to move away from polyethylene beads, J. Rettenmaier & Söhne will outline the green exfoliant alternatives. Other speakers will cover green chemistry in cosmetic formulations, novel marine ingredients, and sustainable alternatives to palm oil.
With concerns about labels proliferation in the cosmetics industry, the ethical labels session will give an update on recent developments and give future projections. Details will be given of new labelling schemes, such as Vegan Society, Nordic Swan and Fairtrade. Farhan Tufail from Halal Certification Schemes will highlight the potential of the Halal labelling scheme for cosmetics.
Furthermore, the digital marketing session will look at the influence of mobile technology on the marketing of cosmetic products in the context of sustainability.
The agenda of the European edition of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit reflects the growing complexity of sustainability in the beauty industry. According to the organiser Organic Monitor: brands not only have to consider green ingredients, formulations and labelling schemes, but also packaging impacts, raw material sourcing, carbon and water footprints, as well as the pervasive influence of mobile technology on marketing.
