Environmental Impacts of Cosmetic Products

Sustainability metrics are becoming more and more important to business, both in conversations with stakeholders as well as within companies internally. Metrics that go beyond the carbon footprint are essential to inspire companies to accelerate along the path of sustainability. The chapter describes the corporate carbon footprint, usually considered by companies as a very important metric to consider. The major portion of the total corporate carbon footprint can be accounted for by collecting full emissions information from only a limited number of suppliers. A life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a method to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a cosmetic product's life from cradle to grave. LCA is an important tool to support Ecodesign. Applying an ecodesign approach means including environmental considerations in product or service development policies. The chapter finally showcases the innovative measures adopted by the L'Oral group in reducing the environmental footprint.