The worldwide demand for sustainable cosmetics is rising, with the pure and natural magnificence market projected to succeed in $54.5 billion by 2027, rising at a CAGR of 9.76% from 2022 to 2027, in response to market analysis agency Statista. On the similar time, sustainability certifications are gaining traction—practically 50% of magnificence shoppers now search for third-party verified claims like natural, vegan, or climate-neutral earlier than making a purchase order, as reported by The NPD Group.
Towards this backdrop, the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit – North America Version returns to New York Metropolis on June 5-6, 2025, bringing collectively producers, suppliers, and business leaders to discover inexperienced supplies, sustainability schemes, and rising traits like AI and biotechnology.
Organized by Ecovia Intelligence, the occasion will study how these improvements are shaping the way forward for cosmetics whereas tackling key challenges comparable to ingredient sourcing, round packaging, and greenwashing.
To realize deeper insights, CosmeticsDesign spoke with Amarjit Sahota, founding father of Ecovia Intelligence, about what to anticipate from this 12 months’s summit and the way the business can speed up its shift towards sustainability.
CDU: What impressed this 12 months’s theme and focus for the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit?
Amarjit Sahota (AS): This 12 months, we’re specializing in inexperienced supplies, sustainability schemes, and future traits. Inexperienced components proceed to play an vital position in advancing sustainability within the cosmetics business.
We’ll take a look at how new applied sciences like biotechnology and AI are creating sustainable components.
We determined to cowl sustainability schemes since our analysis exhibits a rising variety of third-party sustainability requirements and labels for beauty & private care merchandise. Aside from pure and natural (essentially the most established), we’re seeing extra merchandise with climate-neutral, vegan, and associated labels like EWG Verified and Made Protected.
Within the Future Tendencies session, we’ll talk about the traits which can be poised to additional sustainability within the cosmetics business. Aside from AI (which is predicted to have a significant impression on beauty formulations and advertising and marketing), we’re overlaying cultured components (made utilizing mobile agriculture), and new strategies to supply plant-based components: regenerative agriculture and vertical farming.
We’re additionally overlaying new packaging supplies for cosmetics & private care merchandise.
CDU: How has the summit advanced over time in addressing sustainability challenges within the cosmetics business?
AS: The agenda of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit has advanced significantly for the reason that first version in 2009. Within the first few editions, inexperienced supplies referred to plant-based/pure uncooked supplies versus artificial chemical substances.
Over the past 10 years, there was appreciable funding in inexperienced uncooked supplies. Now, inexperienced supplies confer with components which have a better sustainability profile than standard components.
This may very well be when it comes to feedstock (agricultural-based or bio-based feedstock), synthesis (processing strategies), upcycling (valorization of waste supplies), and/or new applied sciences like stem cell know-how, precision fermentation, and many others.
There are additionally larger discussions on impacts, whether or not it’s carbon footprint / internet zero, useful resource use, moral sourcing & biodiversity, social sustainability, in addition to packaging impacts. Advertising and marketing points are additionally extra distinguished, particularly since manufacturers are advertising and marketing their merchandise on numerous inexperienced options, e.g., energetic components, free-from claims, labels, packaging, refillable, and many others.
CDU: The agenda mentions AI and biotechnology as rising applied sciences. How do you see these shaping the way forward for sustainable cosmetics?
AS: AI is having a significant affect on the cosmetics business. Manufacturers are AI to assist them choose components and re-formulate their merchandise.
AI can be used for market analysis for NPD (growing new merchandise), advertising and marketing, and communications. Corporations like Haut.AI are growing software program like SkinGPT, while analysis companies are utilizing AI to research information and information manufacturers with advertising and marketing choices.
Biotechnology is predicted to play an vital position in growing pure uncooked supplies for beauty formulations. The transfer to inexperienced uncooked supplies has raised questions on land use: As the worldwide inhabitants continues to rise and is predicted to succeed in 9 billion by 2037, there are considerations that land will probably be used to develop crops for cosmetics and never for meals.
The rising use of plant-based uncooked supplies mustn’t result in meals insecurity. Biotechnology, comparable to plant cell know-how, allows energetic components to be grown in refineries with agricultural land. Precision fermentation and fermentation strategies allow components like collagen to be created from plant sources within the lab.
New applied sciences, subsequently, will play an vital position in creating sustainable components for the cosmetics business.
CDU: How do you assume this 12 months’s summit will affect business stakeholders’ methods for integrating sustainability?
AS: We need to spotlight the foremost traits and alternatives with inexperienced supplies and sustainability schemes for stakeholders. Inexperienced supplies play an vital position in lowering the environmental impression of beauty & private care merchandise.
Sustainability schemes are vital as they assist manufacturers and ingredient corporations transfer in the direction of inexperienced(er) merchandise. They’re additionally essential in advertising and marketing; by adopting third-party sustainability schemes like Natrue, RSPO, and Local weather Neautral, manufacturers can legitimize their inexperienced advertising and marketing claims.
CDU: What position does collaboration play in overcoming challenges like greenwashing and implementing round programs?
AS: Collaboration does play an vital position. Within the earlier editions of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, we’ve got highlighted the significance of collaboration by giving a platform to the EcoBeautyScore Consortium and Pact Collective.
Each initiatives have concerned manufacturers working collectively for a typical objective e.g. the purpose of the Pact Collective to handle the problem of magnificence and wellness packaging waste by uniting manufacturers to take collective duty for packaging waste via revolutionary assortment applications and academic sources.
CDU: What are your ideas on the potential for holistic sustainability schemes to handle the rising fragmentation within the business?
AS: Sadly, we’ve got not seen any schemes that cowl the varied components of sustainability within the magnificence business. One of many causes is that sustainability has many threads, encompassing environmental points like carbon footprint, water use, vitality, waste administration, biodiversity, packaging impacts, to social points like moral sourcing and CSR.
There are additionally financial points and moral points that cowl animal-testing, veganism, and human well being. It’s, subsequently, turning into frequent for sustainability schemes that concentrate on particular points, e.g., RSPO for sustainable sourcing of palm oil, carbon footprint labels, natural certification, vegan labels, truthful commerce, and many others.
CDU: Trying forward, what new sustainability traits do you anticipate will emerge within the subsequent few years?
AS: We see there to be extra sustainability requirements and labeling schemes, in addition to charters and roundtables. A development is that these schemes are being developed for single components, e.g., sustainable palm oil, sugar, coconut oil, mica, guar, and many others.
There will even be extra of a rising palette of inexperienced components. Already, we’re seeing firms which have silicones and polymers transferring to bio-based feedstock.
On the shopper degree, count on to see new product codecs. Lately, refillables have made a comeback for skincare merchandise. There are new product codecs like waterless shampoos and moisturizer bars, in addition to new refillable deodorants, and many others.
CDU: Because the founding father of Ecovia Intelligence, what drives your ardour for sustainability in cosmetics, and the way do you see your position in shaping the business’s future?
AS: Since Ecovia Intelligence was shaped in 2001, the mission has been to encourage sustainable improvement within the meals, beauty & associated industries through our enterprise companies.
We’ve got been internet hosting the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit since 2009; for 17 years, the summit goals to encourage optimistic change within the magnificence business by highlighting sustainability developments and figuring out enterprise alternatives and networks. Because the founding father of Ecovia Intelligence, my position is to assist facilitate this optimistic change.
For extra particulars or to register for the upcoming Summit, please go to the group’s web site.
