Recently, L'Oreal, a beauty technology enterprise, released the action guide for promoting sustainable consumption in the daily chemical industry (hereinafter referred to as the guide) at the second China International Consumer Goods Expo. It is proposed in the guide that in the process of promoting sustainable production and operation, daily chemical enterprises should focus on Sustainable R & D and formulation optimization, sustainable procurement, clean production, use of renewable energy, recycling and reuse of packaging materials and other major actions around key links such as product R & D and design, raw material procurement and production and manufacturing, so as to provide consumers with sustainable products and develop "sustainable" new tracks, Seize the new blue ocean of the market.
Human's sustainable footprint is closely connected with the track of R & D and production activities. How to promote the industry with "green" and "low-carbon" in the creation, sales and use of daily cosmetics and beauty products and promote sustainable development is the direction that many daily cosmetics brands are trying to change.
So, under the multiple demands, how should the daily beauty participants embrace green and sustainable development and enter the "low-carbon" and even "zero carbon" era?
Driven by consumer demand, the global daily cosmetics industry is blowing a "whirlwind" of sustainable development
Some analysts pointed out that the sustainable development of the daily chemical and beauty industry faces challenges due to the high dependence on natural resources (oil and its derivatives), the imperfect recycling system of packaging wastes, and the difficulty of supply chain management. In particular, the proposal of the "double carbon" goal has put forward higher requirements for the sustainable development of the daily cosmetics industry at the environmental level.
At the same time, intergenerational migration of consumer groups is the underlying logic that forces the daily cosmetics industry to move towards the "zero carbon" era. At present, consumers have gradually developed from the perspective of "what can be used" to the direction of "good consumption" such as quality, cleanliness, health and sustainability. In particular, the rise of generation Z consumer groups has triggered a change in consumer concepts, and consumer demand has become more personalized and diversified. For generation Z, their attention to green, healthy and transparent products has significantly increased. They are not only willing to buy high-quality products, but also pay attention to the production mode, product quality information disclosure and traceability, as well as the brand's transmission and adherence to the concept of environmental protection and sustainable development.
According to the Research Report on sustainable consumption of Chinese youth under the double carbon target of 2022 released by EU billion think tank in May this year, carbon peaking and carbon neutralization have now risen to the national strategic deployment, and sustainable consumption has become the general trend. In the field of "sustainable consumption" cosmetics, consumers' purchasing driving force is more concentrated on "conveying the sustainable concept, attracting people with positive effects on environmental protection", "natural, organic and other skin care concepts" and "hoping to practice sustainable lifestyle and consumption". It can be seen that, with the change of consumption consciousness, consumers not only pay attention to the brand and efficacy, but also pay more attention to whether the products meet the concept of "sustainable consumption" when purchasing cosmetics.
For daily cosmetics and beauty enterprises, different enterprises may respond to various changes in the industry in different ways, but the changes are inseparable. The demand of consumers at the bottom is the source of all changes. Under the continuous impact of the epidemic, embracing sustainable development has become the wind vane of global daily cosmetics and beauty enterprises. Sustainable consumption and sustainable fashion are not only popular concepts, but also the action direction of all walks of life.
Industry insiders believe that sustainable development not only conforms to the basic driving force of consumers' demand for product purchase, but also meets the standard that the whole life cycle from R & D and design, raw material supply, production and manufacturing, product planning, packaging innovation, distribution and retail, product use and product recycling is beneficial to environmental safety. As LAN Zhenzhen, chief enterprise affairs and public relations officer of L'Oreal North Asia and China, said in a recent interview, "as the industry closest to consumers, daily chemical industry embraces sustainable consumption is the main force of consumption today and in the future. This is a sense of urgency."
Innovative patterns, all players explore the way to sustainable development
Driven by consumption demand, the sustainable development demand and potential space of the daily cosmetics industry are huge. Based on this, many brands are eager to try, hoping to promote their own and even the sustainable development of the industry through innovation and exploration.
In the field of product production, more and more brands are choosing to use natural raw materials to strengthen sustainable development. Farmacy, a well-known beauty brand originated from the organic farm in the United States, controls the planting and production of core ingredients from the source, and strictly controls the safety and low-carbon of raw materials. It is understood that farMy has cooperated with the non GM regeneration farm - Hudson farm in New York since September last year to establish a waste free self recycling ecosystem. The system makes use of plant photosynthesis and biodiversity to restore soil fertility naturally, without manual intervention such as chemical fertilizer and pesticides. It is of great significance to protect the environment while producing healthy and safe raw materials.
Take the packaging of daily beauty products as an example. With the continuous and high-speed development of the industry, the problem of excessive packaging has been frequently concerned, and many brands have "exerted too much force" on the outer packaging of products. According to the data of the British innovative recycling company "Tera recycling", the global beauty industry produces 120 billion pieces of packaging every year, causing 18 million acres (about 100 million mu) of forest loss. Moreover, because the packaging containers of daily cosmetics and beauty products are generally small, it is impossible to recycle and recycle. In the end, the fate of these small packages is often to directly enter the landfill, and to a large extent, it will cause environmental pollution due to the difficulty of plastic degradation.
Fortunately, players represented by domestic skin care brands such as Zhiben have been actively innovating in packaging and carrying out "low-carbon" practice. It is reported that Zhiben not only insists on using environmentally friendly and reusable express boxes, but also introduces replaceable skin care products packaging to avoid plastic waste.
Coincidentally, in January this year, L'Oreal, a beauty technology brand, and Veolia established a plastic reduction cooperation, which is the most concerned issue in the sustainable issue, to use high-quality recycled plastics for its global product packaging and reduce the carbon footprint of cosmetic packaging. It is understood that through this strong alliance, the cosmetic packaging made of recycled plastic is expected to avoid 50% to 70% of carbon dioxide emissions. L'Oreal also promises to the society that by 2030, all plastics used for packaging will be recycled or bio based plastics.
In addition, driven by the concept of sustainable development and green environmental protection, consumers are more willing to pay for innovative products of environmental protection technology. For example, Coty group, a French beauty enterprise, exhibited an "environmental protection perfume" at this year's Consumer Fair. It is understood that Coti and lanzatech, a biotechnology company, jointly developed and launched the first perfume made of carbon capture ethanol. This "component capture technology" not only makes secondary use of carbon, but also consumes almost zero water in the whole process, which can be called a real green production.
On the other hand, international essence giants qihuadun and IFF are working together with digital intelligent screening IDP to introduce an "Ai product strength evaluation system" known as "Ai mind reading" into product R & D, realizing green environmental protection in some aspects of product R & D. Moreover, according to relevant sources, in addition to the above-mentioned raw material manufacturers starting to deploy digital intelligence technology, several well-known cosmetic brands have also begun to actively introduce "Ai mind reading" into the development of new products, which will greatly improve the accuracy of new product development, thereby effectively reducing development risks and embracing "zero carbon innovation".
It is reported that in order to better embrace sustainable products with higher quality and safety standards, digital intelligent screening IDP integrates artificial intelligence algorithms such as emotional computing and cloud computing into the "Ai product strength evaluation system". Relying on the cutting-edge technologies such as consumer micro expression recognition and emotion calculation, the products are evaluated from the five senses (smell, taste, touch and hearing) of consumers, and the intelligence of daily beauty brands and their understanding of personal preferences and purchasing behaviors are continuously improved, which not only greatly improves the efficiency of product research and development, but also helps the "green" development goal of beauty brands in the future development process, Realize "zero carbon innovation" in the field of evaluation through paperless operation.
From R & D to production, to packaging, to circulation, the daily beauty industry is experiencing a green trend of sustainable development. Analysts also pointed out that the sustainable development of the daily chemical and beauty industry is no longer just an empty concept. New and old players are implementing sustainable development through innovative exploration. It is believed that in the near future, after a comprehensive review and integration of ecological, animal welfare and social and economic issues, more and more cosmetic brands will find a sustainable way to achieve the great beauty of the world and the symbiosis of all things.
