The 6th European edition of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit will be hosted in Paris on 24-26th November 2014. Organised by market research firm Organic Monitor, the summit will discuss ways to encourage sustainable purchases and responsible consumption of cosmetics and personal care products.
“Although the natural & organic cosmetics market has shown high growth, the market share remains low. Natural & organic products comprise just 3% of European cosmetic sales because of concentration of demand; a small consumer base is responsible for most purchases,” explains Organic Monitor. The latest market and consumer data will be presented during the Summit, followed by discussions on how to broaden consumer appeal for natural and organic cosmetics.
Furthermore, as life-cycle analysis studies show the highest environmental impact of certain personal care products is at the consumer level, the Summit will also ask what can be done to encourage responsible consumption?
Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart, co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design and professor at the University of Applied Science (Suderburg, Germany), will give the opening keynote. As cosmetic firms announce bold sustainability plans, Braungart will state the limitations of setting targets to reduce environmental impacts. According to Braungart, cosmetic & personal care firms need to innovate with product design if they are to use resources more efficiently. He encourages companies to consider the Cradle-To-Cradle Design Approach to create ‘closed loop systems’ for cosmetic ingredients and finished products.
The Summit will also give industry best-practices with papers covering the positive role of fair trade, sustainable economics and green finance, while the traditional green ingredients session will give an update on the growing palette of green materials, placing emphasis on new technologies.
The 2nd Sustainable Beauty Awards will be co-hosted alongside the summit, on 24th November.
