Nicolas Krafft, Former L’Oreal Exec, Identifies 4 Proven Goals To Build Sustainable Beauty Brands

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Historically, the cosmetics industry isn’t known for being the most eco-friendly. Beauty brands create 120 billion units of non-recyclable packaging every year, and that’s just the beginning of the problem. This $532 billion global industry is traditionally hard on the planet, leaving waste, pollution, and even health problems in its wake.

Fortunately, major beauty brands are taking a stand and making changes—without sacrificing product quality or customer experience.

But sustainable beauty isn’t easy. Brands, large and small have to look at their employee behaviors, ingredients, manufacturing, packaging, and logistics to take a holistic approach to real sustainability.

It’s unavoidable that the beauty industry will leave some kind of impact on the earth. But the industry can minimize its footprint by carefully planning for sustainability and by following in the footsteps of smaller beauty brands.

Nicolas Krafft, a beauty industry expert and former L’Oreal executive, joined the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership program to discuss ways in which the cosmetics industry can enhance sustainability practices across the board. Nicolas Krafft offers beauty brands four eco-friendly goals to focus on if they are indeed interested in moving more toward long-term sustainability.

About Nicolas Krafft

Nicolas Krafft is a former L’Oreal executive with an extensive career in international beauty. A Switzerland native, Nicolas Krafft honed his cross-cultural management skills leading teams and has lived in Canada, the U.S, Germany, and Eastern Europe.

Nicolas Krafft spent over two decades at L’Oreal, managing its Matrix brand launch in Asia, growing the entire portfolio of brands of the L’Oréal professional division in Eastern Europe, and serving as the Vice President of Business Development. L’Oreal also named Nicolas Krafft as the International General Manager for their Pulp Riot brand of professional hair color.

In this article, we’ll focus on the benefits of sustainable beauty and specifically Mr. Nicolas Krafft’s recommendations to create a more sustainable future for the industry.

Why sustainability?

Why should cosmetics and beauty brands care about sustainability? Why should we disrupt an entire industry?

According to Nicolas Krafft, the reason is simple: your brand can’t afford to not be sustainable. This is because:

  • Customers want sustainability. 81% of shoppers say they want ethically-sourced, environmentally-friendly products.
  • As identified by McKinsey’s CPG research, members of Gen Z— typically considered ‘true digital natives,’ classified as people born from 1995 to 2010— are much more ethical as consumers than previous generations. In sum, Gen Z’s consumption intentionally supports brands who mirror and champion their moral and ethical principles. On the other hand, Gen Z is much more likely to boycott brands who don’t practice what they preach. This lends credence to the digital revolution, and hammers home the strength of transparency through digital platforms, and the power of a crowd.
  • Small beauty brands are already leading the charge. Small brands, like Davines, an Italian family-owned cosmetics B-Corp brand, which was founded on sustainability, move the needle much more quickly. With an eye on ethics and sustainability, Davines was leaps and bounds ahead of larger brands in accepting and championing sustainability initiatives. Enterprise beauty brands have to catch up to sustainability as the new industry standard.
  • Sustainable practices also serve to protect stylists, consumers, and the planet. Hair care products pose little risk to the stylist or consumer when handled properly, but the use of chemicals, non-recyclable packaging, and excess water has contributed to waste in the environment. Brands can take more responsibility for those around them by adjusting their formulations to create more eco-friendly products to the benefit of their consumers, practitioners,  and environment.

4 ways beauty brands can embrace sustainability

But how can beauty actually become sustainable? Nicolas Krafft outlined four goals for the beauty industry to make major contributions to a more sustainable world beyond 2020.

1 – Reduce CO2 emissions

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are a leading cause of climate change. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation and manufacturing are some of the biggest sources of CO2 emissions on a global scale.

In the UN pledge for climate reduction, for example, most of the world’s largest cosmetics companies vowed to add CO2 emission reduction to their corporate sustainability projects and it looks like the agreement is starting to work.

As previously mentioned, Davines has made sustainability part of their DNA and is working deliberately to be carbon neutral by 2030. As part of its sustainability agreement, the brand is working to be carbon neutral by 2030. In 2019 alone Davines reduced emissions by a whopping 47% and even started paying to offset carbon from its workers’ commutes.

Aveda, a larger, global brand, now manufactures all of its products with wind power, paying for carbon offsets in other areas of its business, and the Estee Lauder Group recently announced that they had achieved net-zero carbon emissions across its entire operation.

Sustainable manufacturing practices mean reducing electricity use, minimizing employee commutes, and powering plants with renewable energy. Beauty brands can’t make the change overnight, but every ounce of carbon reduction is a win. And when sustainability is part of your DNA, low-CO2 approaches are the obvious next steps for everyone along the value chain.

Most brands tout having ambitious zero emissions objectives, but still largely rely on offsetting their emissions (carbon neutrality). The next big move is to shift from offsetting to elimination of emissions at the source, but this requires innovation along the value chain. In practice, this would completely transform how the industry currently operates. 

2 – Reduce water consumption

Did you know that 59% of U.S. water consumption comes from manufacturing? Cosmetic and beauty brands need fresh water to make their products, but the sheer amount of water required is staggering.

With more and more brands entering the industry, there’s even more pressure on our most valuable natural resource and brands are taking steps to protect that resource.

Water consumption is something that has trickled through the industry in recent years with companies like Henkel making it a company-wide priority. In the last decade, Henkel reduced water consumption per metric ton by 28% across the board.

Cosmetic brands are making big strides in water conservation by adjusting the formulations of their products. Beauty brands across the industry are leaning more into powdered shampoo, which requires no water, or shifting to biodegradable shampoo formulas. But a lot still needs to be done in other categories such as hair color which still needs to be rinsed out with water.

It’s not easy to cut water consumption but it is possible, according to Nicolas Krafft. Revisiting the value chain and partnering with best-in-class companies to decrease the amount of water being used in salons is one way. Another way is to coach stylists and salon managers on water-saving practices. Some brands even have a certification program for salons dedicated to sustainable practices while others have introduced efficiency faucets that minimize the amount of water being used at any given time.

While brands still need to use some water in their formulations, Nicolas Krafft believes that there is still room for breakthrough innovation that can bring considerable value and competitive advantage.

3 – Decreasing waste

Waste is a major issue facing the cosmetics industry. Plastic wrap, cardboard, and hard plastic are all essential, ubiquitous materials used for transporting and packaging beauty products. But so much of this packaging goes straight to the landfill, or worse, into our environment. That’s why there is a push for beauty brands to design every product component, from features to packaging, for sustainability.

In practice, that means redesigning products to limit unnecessary materials, especially if they are not biodegradable. Reducing the number of components in the product and in the packaging will help that, as will introducing recyclable materials and product containers.

Cosmetic companies across the industry have pledged to start using more recyclable materials. One such company, Kevin Murphy, a premium brand from Australia, has started using bottles that are made of 100% reclaimed plastic from the ocean. This initiative alone is expected to reuse 360 tons of plastic from the ocean every year.

By establishing a recycling program for rigid plastic tops in beauty products, Aveda has been able to prevented upwards of 150 million rigid caps from entering the environment. Another partnership, this one between Henkel and Terra Cycle, allows U.S. consumers to recycle hair care products through Terra Cycle in exchange for charitable donations to a charity of their choice.

Cultivating an approach to thinking about the overall life cycle of product offerings allows for the continual ideation and innovation of every product being offered. With these initiatives and sustainability goals being shared throughout much of the industry, collaboration is proving to be a stronger tool than independent thinking. By joining together in the quest to eliminate unnecessary waste, real change and progress can and is being made.

4 – Altering formulations

Sustainable ingredients are a must for any clean beauty brand with sustainability as a top-of-mind focus. Synthetic formulas and packaging, not to mention packaging that can’t be recycled, will put off customers who want more natural and sustainable products.

Aside from the clear environmental benefits, sustainability is quickly becoming an industry-must. According to Nicolas Krafft, consumers’ tastes are shifting and it’s showing in their buying behavior.  

Today’s consumers are no longer satisfied with ‘greenwashing’, which has prevailed for many years in the industry. They are shifting massively towards clean beauty, which has become a category by itself at big retailers such as Sephora or Ulta. Compared to just a few years ago, consumers are now ready to pay a premium price assuming they are not compromising on performance.

Although not every brand has been working toward sustainability for the same amount of time, many ingredients that could be removed without change in product performance have been removed either through regulation or through consumer pressure.

The next step for the industry is to bring innovation to further replace ingredients, completely revisit product formulation, or invent and educate on new routines in order to avoid these ingredients without compromising on performance.

The bottom line

Our environment is struggling to keep pace with the demand for beauty products. But with more consumers demanding sustainability, it’s valuable in the long-term for brands to invest in sustainability.

Thanks to changing consumer preferences, sustainability will be an industry standard moving forward. Use Nicolas Krafft’s 4 tips to revamp your beauty practices to see not only long-term financial success, but a healthy planet and future.

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