The European edition of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit brought together about 150 senior executives from the beauty industry to discuss sustainability issues.
Hosted in Paris on 21-23 November, major discussions were on sustainability best-practices, green ingredients, and the impact of new technologies. Nikos Koutsianas, founder of Apivita, kicked off the summit with a keynote on the growing complexity of the sustainability challenge. Koutsianas stated the current financial crisis was a result of consumer excess and that lessons should be learnt from ancient Greece. Quoting Hippocrates: “Everything in excess is opposed to nature”, Koutsianas encouraged cosmetic companies to use green formulations as they enabled customers to connect with nature. A number of companies shared their experiences in implementing sustainability programmes. Inken Hollmann-Peters gave details of the Beiersdorf ‘We Care’ initiative. By 2020, the cosmetics company plans to reduce its product carbon footprint by 30%, generate half its sales from products that have a significantly reduced environmental footprint, and help give education to half a million children in developing countries. Hollmann- Peters stated the success of a sustainability programme hinges on top management commitment. The impact of new technologies on the sustainable development of the cosmetics industry was featured in the final session. Apperian stated that mobile devices were changing the way beauty brands connect with consumers; using the example of Estée Lauder, he showed how interactive kiosks in retail outlets can undertake skin diagnostics and raise product sales. The European summit was the 10th edition of the international series of summits. It capped a successful year for the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, hosted in the major geographic regions of the world for the first time. By tackling ecological and ethical issues pertinent to each region, the summit aims to encourage sustainability in the cosmetics industry.
