COSMETICS BUSINESS LIVE
NATRUE
Environmental claims: Expectations, regulation
& substantiation Speaker Mark Smith
C
osmetics claims linked to the environmental, ethical and sustainable characteristics of a product have steadily gained momentum over the past decade, which has only accelerated during recent years. Additionally, within the last few years, there has been increasing regulatory developments coupled with investor pressure related to sustainability, as targets, pledges and commitments for 2030 and 2050 are sought to be met.
Consumers are ultimately looking to make more sustainable choices. This means they demand greater transparency about the substances used in products, their origin, sourcing, manufacture, and social and environment impact. However, the EU Commission has reported that 54% of EU consumers want more sustainable choices but around two-thirds find difficulty in choosing environmentally-friendly products, and 44% do not trust environmental information.
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES? Consequently, despite the consumer movement and industry aim to become greener, malpractices, like greenwashing, run the risk of remaining due to fundamentally unresolved issues. The marriage between increasingly diverse and complex consumer expectations and industry deliverables will need to be addressed for cosmetics as part of the green transition. Specifically, there are two primary aspects to address. Firstly, despite a tightly regulated cosmetics industry there remains no official regulatory definition for notable environmental claims, such as natural, organic or vegan. In this absence there is an inability to unambiguously identify precisely when, and whether, such environmental claims would be considered misleading or not. This creates an identifiable risk for consumer trust related to a disconnect between
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expectation and delivery, market harm due to a disruption of the level playing field, enforcement issues by the regulator and negative environmental impacts from products pertaining to be better for the planet than they are. Secondly, there remains a proliferation of labels and claims on personal care products. For the average consumer it can be difficult to distinguish between those labels associated with third-party certification schemes and those which represent iconographic self-declared claims from the manufacturer. The proliferation of labels and the likelihood of the average consumer being presented with many labels runs the risk of confusion and compounds the potential for consumers to be misled.
In order to address these elements, we are witnessing both emerging and evolving legislation in major global markets, such as the EU, in addition to increased focus on codes of best practice for industries in the UK. From industry there are enhanced efforts to collaborate and consolidate action in respect of the environmental impact of products, and from NGOs to establish and promote globally transparent schemes, many of which are tied to third-party certification process.
As part of its involvement in Cosmetics Business Live 2022, NATRUE provides an overview to the sector covering elements including consumer expectations, the changing regulatory landscape, and methods to assist producers in terms of claims substantiation such as certification schemes and international tools and standards. Claims remain a key tool to effectively communicate the attributes of a product. Yet, just like any claim it remains important that environmental claims related to performance or characteristics of products are reliable, comparable and verifiable
December 2022 55
Mark Smith addressed the consumer confusion caused by a proliferation of self- declared claims by manufacturers
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