L’Oréal’s Shift from Petrochemicals Highlights the Next Sustainability Challenge for Beauty

L’Oréal is stepping up research into alternatives to petrochemical ingredients, underscoring how the beauty sector’s net-zero transition is increasingly moving from factory energy and packaging into the chemistry of products themselves.

A recent BusinessGreen feature examined the French group’s work to develop “nature-friendly” ingredients across its research and development operations, including at one of its laboratories in France. The article noted that the world’s largest beauty group has thousands of scientists working on ingredient innovation as it seeks to reduce reliance on fossil-based inputs in cosmetics.

The issue is material for the wider cosmetics industry. Petrochemical-derived ingredients are widely used in personal care products because they can deliver consistent texture, stability, preservation, fragrance performance and skin feel on a large scale. Replacing them is not a simple substitution exercise. New materials must meet safety standards, regulatory requirements, consumer expectations, cost constraints and performance benchmarks, while also reducing environmental impacts across sourcing, processing, use and end of life.

L’Oréal’s 2030 ingredient target

L’Oréal’s approach sits within its “L’Oréal for the Future” sustainability programme. The company has set a 2030 target for 95% of ingredients in its formulas to be bio-based, derived from abundant minerals or from circular processes. It has also committed to ensuring that 100% of formulas are respectful of the aquatic environment by 2030.

Progress is measurable, but the gap remains significant. L’Oréal reported that 66% of its formula ingredients were bio-based, derived from abundant minerals or from circular processes in 2024. The group also said it invested more than €1.3bn in research and innovation that year, filed 694 patents and employed more than 4,000 scientists across 21 research centres worldwide.

For sustainability teams, the important point is that ingredient reformulation can affect Scope 3 emissions, biodiversity risk, land use, water demand and pollution impacts. A bio-based ingredient is not automatically lower impact than a fossil-derived one. Its footprint depends on feedstock, agricultural practices, land-use change, processing energy, transport, yields and whether by-products are used efficiently.

Companies shifting to natural or bio-based inputs, therefore, need credible life cycle assessment, traceability and safeguards against biodiversity loss or competition with food systems.

Why Replacing Petrochemicals is Difficult

Petrochemical ingredients are common in cosmetics for practical reasons. They are often stable, scalable, relatively low-cost and capable of delivering precise performance characteristics. They can help determine how a cream spreads, how long a fragrance lasts, how a shampoo foams, or how a product remains safe and consistent over time.

Replacing these inputs requires more than finding a plant-based equivalent. A substitute must work in the full formulation, remain stable over the product’s shelf life, meet consumer expectations and comply with safety rules in different markets. It must also be available in sufficient volumes and at a price that supports mass-market production.

This is why the beauty sector’s ingredient transition is likely to be gradual. Some categories may be easier to reformulate than others. Premium products may be able to absorb higher costs more easily than lower-priced lines. In some cases, the best environmental option may be a bio-based material. In others, it may be a recycled, mineral-derived, synthetic or fermentation-based ingredient.

The Role of Green Chemistry and Biotechnology

L’Oréal has described its “Green Sciences” strategy as combining green chemistry, biotechnology, agronomy and formulation science. These approaches can include plant-derived ingredients, fermentation processes, more efficient extraction techniques, upcycled raw materials and circular carbon sources.

For suppliers, this creates a growing market for ingredients that can demonstrate both performance and lower environmental impact. Ingredient manufacturers, biotechnology firms, agricultural producers and chemical companies are likely to face rising demand for alternatives that can be produced at an industrial scale.

However, scale remains a central challenge. Large consumer goods companies need ingredients that are consistent across millions of units, available globally and compatible with existing manufacturing systems. A novel ingredient may work technically in a laboratory but still face barriers linked to cost, certification, consumer perception, regulatory approval or supply security.

For brands, this means sustainability claims must be backed by robust evidence rather than generic references to “natural” content.

Biodiversity, Sourcing and Traceability

L’Oréal’s ingredient strategy also raises broader questions about nature and land use. Replacing fossil-derived materials with biological feedstocks can reduce reliance on oil and gas, but it can also create new pressures if feedstocks are not sourced responsibly.

Agricultural inputs may require land, water, fertilizer and energy. Poorly managed sourcing can contribute to deforestation, biodiversity loss or social risks in supply chains. By contrast, well-managed regenerative agriculture, waste-derived feedstocks or efficient fermentation systems may reduce pressure on ecosystems and provide lower-impact routes to production.

L’Oréal has linked its raw material strategy to traceability, sustainable sourcing and biodiversity protection. Its 2030 commitments include ensuring that bio-based ingredients for formulas and packaging materials are traceable and come from sustainable sources.

For the wider industry, traceability will be increasingly important. Companies will need to know where ingredients come from, how they are produced and what environmental impacts are associated with them. This is especially relevant as regulators, retailers and investors demand stronger evidence behind sustainability claims.

Packaging Remains Part of the Challenge

The transition away from petrochemicals also intersects with packaging. L’Oréal has set 2030 goals for 100% of plastics used in product packaging to come from recycled or bio-based sources and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% per finished product compared with 2016.

In its 2024 environmental reporting, the company said 49% of its plastic packaging was refillable, reusable, recyclable or compostable. That figure shows progress, but also highlights the scale of the remaining challenge for packaging circularity.

For beauty brands, formulation and packaging cannot be treated separately. A product with lower-impact ingredients may still have a high packaging footprint. Conversely, recyclable or refillable packaging does not address the environmental impact of the formula inside. Net-zero strategies will need to consider both.

Practical Implications for Companies and Investors

For investors and corporate sustainability professionals, the key lesson is that decarbonising consumer products requires detailed work inside product design. Renewable electricity and logistics improvements matter, but in sectors such as beauty, chemicals, cleaning products and materials, emissions and nature impacts are embedded in formulas, raw materials and supply chains.

This creates opportunities for companies developing low-impact ingredients, green chemistry platforms, fermentation technologies, sustainable agricultural feedstocks and circular materials. It also creates pressure on incumbent suppliers whose portfolios remain heavily dependent on fossil-derived inputs.

For consumer goods companies, ingredient transition will require closer collaboration between sustainability teams, procurement, R&D, marketing and regulatory specialists. Decisions about raw materials must balance carbon, biodiversity, water, safety, performance and cost. That complexity makes transparent reporting and credible data essential.

Avoiding Vague Sustainability Claims

There are also reputational risks. Consumers may welcome bio-based or natural ingredients, but regulators and watchdogs are scrutinising environmental claims more closely. Companies will need to distinguish between renewable origin, biodegradability, lower carbon impact, sustainable sourcing and reduced aquatic toxicity.

These are related but separate claims. A bio-based ingredient is not necessarily biodegradable. A natural ingredient is not automatically low-carbon. A recycled ingredient may still require significant energy to process. Each claim requires specific evidence.

As sustainability rules tighten, beauty companies will need to avoid broad claims that imply environmental benefit without clear proof. More precise language, product-level data and third-party verification are likely to become more important.

Outlook for the Beauty Sector

L’Oréal’s push suggests that the beauty industry’s sustainability agenda is becoming more technical. The next phase is likely to depend less on broad brand commitments and more on ingredient-level data, supplier collaboration, science-based assessment and transparent reporting.

For the wider market, that could create opportunities for green chemistry innovators and bio-based materials suppliers, while raising expectations for companies still relying heavily on fossil-derived inputs.

The shift will not happen overnight. Reformulation at a global scale is complex, expensive and highly regulated. But the direction of travel is clear: for beauty and personal care companies, reducing environmental impact now means looking deep inside the formula, not just at the bottle around it.

Source: www.businessgreen.com