Supporting a New Era of Environmental Assessment in Cosmetics

Since the early 2010s, I have had the opportunity to work alongside the French cosmetics industry through a variety of professional experiences. I first contributed to the French national environmental labelling initiative, developing approaches for assessing the environmental impacts of cosmetic ingredients using the USEtox methodology. More recently, I spent several years supporting manufacturers of cosmetic finished products and raw materials within a private ecotoxicology laboratory, working closely with R&D, marketing and regulatory affairs teams.

These experiences gave me a privileged perspective on how the industry's expectations have evolved over time. More importantly, they convinced me that today's environmental challenges can no longer be addressed solely through regulatory compliance. They have profoundly shaped my understanding of the transformation currently taking place across the cosmetics sector.

Over the past fifteen years, one of the most striking changes I have observed has been the growing importance of environmental assessment within product development and innovation strategies.

When I first entered this field, only a limited number of companies—mainly large international groups—were investing in environmental evaluations of their ingredients or formulations. Environmental data were scarce, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies were still maturing, and essential datasets and characterization factors remained incomplete. For many organisations, ecotoxicology was still regarded as a highly specialised discipline, rarely integrated into day-to-day product development.

As the years passed, I witnessed a clear shift in the questions companies were asking. Rather than focusing solely on generating environmental data, many organisations wanted to better understand the environmental profile of their products. Requests for ecotoxicity and biodegradability testing increased significantly, not because new regulations required them, but because companies sought to support innovation, strengthen scientific understanding of their formulations and substantiate environmental claims with robust evidence.

Emmanuel Maillard, Chief Environmental and Safety Assessment Officer, Edelweiss Connect

What I found particularly interesting during this period was that conversations increasingly moved beyond the question of which test should be performed. Discussions became centred on how results should be interpreted, how reliable different methodologies were, how uncertainties should be managed and how environmental evidence could support sound business decisions. At the same time, the limitations of existing methodologies, persistent data gaps and ongoing debates about the ability of current assessment frameworks to fully capture the environmental benefits of certain natural ingredients highlighted that producing data alone was no longer sufficient.

The emergence of sector-led initiatives such as the Green Impact Index and EcoBeautyScore also illustrates this evolution. Rather than simply adopting existing methodologies, the cosmetics industry has sought to develop complementary approaches that better reflect its specific challenges and respond to growing expectations for transparency and credibility.

Looking back, one lesson stands out above all others. The real challenge is no longer to generate more environmental data; it is to transform those data into meaningful scientific knowledge that can support informed decisions. Yet this expertise remains scarce within many organisations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, where dedicated specialists in ecotoxicology or environmental assessment are rarely available. This observation naturally leads me to what I believe is the next major challenge facing our industry.

Today, companies have access to an unprecedented volume of scientific information, assessment methodologies, digital tools and published research. This abundance represents an extraordinary opportunity to improve product understanding and accelerate innovation. Paradoxically, however, it also makes decision-making more difficult. Which data are the most relevant? Which methodologies are sufficiently robust? How should different sources of evidence be combined? And how can scientific uncertainty be communicated with confidence?

At the same time, the traditional boundaries between disciplines are disappearing. Environmental assessment can no longer be considered independently from product safety, sustainability, regulatory developments, innovation or scientific communication. These dimensions increasingly interact with one another, requiring companies to adopt a more integrated perspective.

This complexity is further reinforced by rapidly evolving societal expectations, new scientific approaches and a constantly changing regulatory landscape. Maintaining expertise across all these domains has become increasingly challenging, especially for smaller organisations.

Read the full post on Emmanuel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/supporting-new-era-environmental-assessment-cosmetics-maillard-9zkie/