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NEWS > 24 July 2026

BEAUTY ACCELERATES ITS RESPONSIBLE TRANSFORMATION: FROM MEASURABLE SUSTAINABILITY TO NEW ETHICAL STANDARDS

Environmental impact reduction, supply-chain resilience, transparency and independent certification are redefining responsibility across the cosmetics industry. The Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna 2026 CosmoTalks revealed a new paradigm: sustainability and ethics are no longer optional attributes, but criteria shaping innovation, market access and value creation.

Responsibility in beauty is entering a new phase. After years largely focused on commitments and targets, the industry is now being called upon to turn ambition into concrete, measurable results embedded in everyday decision-making.
The second edition of Quantis’ Make Up the Future report, presented during the CosmoTalks session “Make Up The Future 2.0: accelerating the sustainable transformation of the beauty industry”, shows that sustainability now influences research and development, sourcing, manufacturing, marketing, retail and risk management. The challenge is no longer simply to reduce impact, but to build operating models capable of responding to climate volatility, resource scarcity, fragile supply chains and growing regulatory pressure.
image 2 BEAUTY ACCELERATES ITS RESPONSIBLE TRANSFORMATION: FROM MEASURABLE SUSTAINABILITY TO NEW ETHICAL STANDARDS

FROM COMMITMENT TO VALUE CREATION

Global beauty revenue has increased by almost 60% since 2020. Environmental and operational risks have grown alongside the market: extreme weather, uncertain ingredient availability and price volatility now affect business continuity and margins. Sustainability is therefore assuming a strategic role. Investing in responsibly sourced ingredients, more efficient processes, circular packaging and greater transparency can reduce not only emissions and resource use, but also costs, regulatory exposure and supply-chain vulnerability. Consumer expectations reinforce this shift. Sixty-one percent of US consumers expect brands to lead on environmental issues; in France, 89% of skincare consumers consider sustainability initiatives when selecting a product, while 66% of Japanese consumers are interested in cosmetics carrying environmental claims. A gap remains between intention and purchasing behavior. Closing it requires responsible alternatives to combine efficacy, convenience and an enjoyable user experience.

BEYOND CARBON: WATER, BIODIVERSITY AND THE FULL LIFE CYCLE

Responsible transformation is moving beyond a narrow focus on emissions. Water, biodiversity, land use, biodegradability and ecosystem impacts are increasingly being incorporated into product assessments and sourcing decisions. Life-cycle analysis helps identify the real priorities. Solid and concentrated formats can reduce water, materials and transport requirements, while water reuse and more efficient manufacturing systems can deliver significant upstream improvements. Refill models must also be assessed as a whole, considering environmental benefits, actual reuse rates, materials, logistics, safety and consumer behavior.
 
The message emerging from the discussion is clear: the most visible solution is not necessarily the lowest-impact one. Reliable data is needed to prevent environmental burdens from simply shifting from one stage of the life cycle to another, and to reconcile sustainability with performance and product desirability.
image BEAUTY ACCELERATES ITS RESPONSIBLE TRANSFORMATION: FROM MEASURABLE SUSTAINABILITY TO NEW ETHICAL STANDARDS

SHARED DATA AS AN ANSWER TO GREENWASHING

With more than 35,000 INCI-listed substances in circulation, no single company can independently reconstruct all the information required to assess ingredients and supply chains. Pre-competitive collaboration, shared datasets and common methodologies are therefore becoming essential infrastructure for accelerating change.

EcoBeautyScore, developed by a consortium of more than 70 companies and associations, assesses 16 categories of impact across the full product life cycle and assigns an A-to-E score. Its purpose is to provide consumers with comparable information and companies with a shared standard for measuring and improving environmental performance. Generic and unsupported claims are consequently giving way to science-based indicators, external verification and traceability systems. Transparency is no longer simply a communications tool, but a requirement guiding innovation, purchasing and investment.

ETHICAL COSMETICS BECOME A VERIFIABLE SYSTEM

The same transition from declaration to evidence is taking place across natural, organic, vegan, halal and cruelty-free beauty. Although these standards address different needs, they share several foundations: controlled ingredients, supply-chain traceability, compliance with declared criteria and independent verification.
“Ethical cosmetics is not a slogan. It is not a claim. It is a system,” Laurent Milet, General Manager at COSMOS-standard AISBL said during the CosmoTalk “Ethical, vegan and halal cosmetics”. That system covers formulation, sourcing, manufacturing, packaging, communication and controls by accredited bodies, ensuring that consumers are not paying a premium for marketing language alone.
For vegan products, criteria include the exclusion of animal ingredients and by-products and consideration of testing across the supply chain. Halal certification also addresses traceability, cross-contamination prevention and organizational requirements. Tighter rules in certain markets, with Indonesia among the main drivers, are turning certification into a market-access tool as well as an ethical guarantee. Different consumer expectations are also converging. Europe has led the growth of natural and organic beauty; Asia has played a central role in the development of halal; and vegan standards are expanding across regions, particularly among younger consumers. Yet the multiplication of labels and symbols can create confusion. The challenge will be to distinguish rigorous certification from self-declared claims while keeping standards ambitious and accessible to small and medium-sized companies.
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RESPONSIBILITY, EFFICACY AND TRUST

Responsible beauty cannot be reduced to a single ingredient, material or logo on a pack. It is an organization-wide process connecting environmental impact, ethical values, product performance and economic sustainability.

The CosmoTalks therefore point to a new definition of responsibility: not a promise detached from business, but a criterion for design and competitiveness. The companies leading the industry’s next phase will be those capable of proving what they claim while delivering effective and desirable products through supply chains that are more resilient, transparent and respectful of people, cultures and the environment.
 

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