Think of what you need to survive. Just survive. Air? Water? Food? Snapchat (Weibo)? Well, you can live 3 minutes without air, 3 to 5 days without water, 46 to 73 days without food. Water is the new luxury. Beauty brands need to change how they manufacture and formulate products to limit their dependence on water.

1. AQUA

2. A CLOSER LOOK
Latin word: Aqua
Scientific name “H2O”. Its basic molecule is made
up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
It provides:
- Life,
- Food,
- A means of transport,
- A way of keeping clean,
- A mechanism for removing sewage,
- A home for fish and other animals,
- A medium with which to cook, in which to swim, on which
to skate and sail,
- A thing of beauty to provide inspiration, to gaze upon, to
use and enjoy.

3. A CLOSER LOOK
In the cosmetic and personal care industry, water is found in:
• oral hygiene products
• personal cleanliness products
• skin care products
• shampoo
• hair conditioners
• shaving products
• sun tan products
• and so on!
• Lotions
• creams
• bath products
• cleansing products
• deodorants
• makeup
• moisturizers

4. A CLOSER LOOK
In clear, water:
- Is a human right,
- Is a necessity more basic than bread or a roof over the head.
- Is a much wanted, little understood and vital source of life.
- It has no substitute.
- And It has unique properties. It is the only substance on Earth that is
found in 3 forms:
• Solid,
• Gas,
• Liquid form,
• and it is a unique solvent.
- Is heavy: one cubic meter weighs a tone, so expensive to move.

5. PRODUCTION SNAPSHOT
Water is a finite resource produced by nature. The same water
continuously circulates around the planet in what is known as
the water cycle.

6. PRODUCTION SNAPSHOT
97,5%
2,5%
SALTED WATER
FRESH WATER
1,5%
ACCESSIBLE WATER

7. PRODUCTION SNAPSHOT
Not all water is suitable for drinking, agriculture or is used in cosmetic
products.
• Only Water that is free of toxins, pollutants and microbes is used in the formulation
of cosmetics and personal care products.
• Water used for this purpose is also referred to as distilled water, purified water and
aqua, the name used in the European Union.
• Water is primarily used as a solvent in cosmetics and personal care products in
which it dissolves many of the ingredients that impart skin benefits.
• Water also forms emulsions in which the oil and water components of the product
are combined to form creams and lotions.
• The quality of water used in the production of cosmetics and personal care
products, called process water, is monitored according to Good Manufacturing
Practices outlined in FDA's Guidance (USA) and EU Cosmetics Inventory.

8. PRODUCTION SNAPSHOT
1) Water sourcing

9. PRODUCTION SNAPSHOT
2) Factory - Water treatment facility
Such as
Degrémont
Industry

10. 60%-85%
COSMETICS ARE MADE OF WATER
PRODUCTION SNAPSHOT
3) Cosmetics manufacturers - process

11. PRODUCTION SNAPSHOT
4) Factory - Wastewater treatment facility
The cosmetics industry accrues many kinds of wastewater. The challenge for
wastewater treatment is that product lots are often changing, thus changing the
composition of the wastewater. Switching to a new product lot in particular,
produces large amounts of wastewater that are contaminated by surfactants, dye,
oils and emulsions and high COD concentrations. In addition, wastewaters foam
excessively at times.
Chemical
and
Biological
treatment

12. COUNTRIES INVOLVED
The world will have no more of water in 2025, or 2050 than it has today.
Just 9 countries account for 60% of all available fresh supplies and among them only
Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia and Russia have an abundance.
America is relatively well off, but China and India, with over a third of the world's
population between them, have less than 10% of its water.

13. COUNTRIES INVOLVED
In most cases, factories are located close to a source of
water
Main factories are located in North America (USA), Europe (France)
and Asia (Japan, China, India, Vietnam…)

14. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Climate-related hazards are affecting the availability of water:
• Aquifers are falling,
• glaciers vanishing,
• reservoirs drying up
• and rivers no longer flowing to the sea.
Water is scarce in many places, and will grow scarcer.
• Regions likely to become drier are:
 Central Asia
 Northern Africa.
• Up to 250 million people in Africa could suffer extra stress on water supplies by 2020.
• Over a fifth of the world's freshwater fish species of a century ago are now
endangered or extinct.
• Half the world's wetlands have also disappeared over the past 100 years.
• The area under irrigation has doubled and the amount of water drawn for farming has
tripled.
• Also, water desalination is expensive and uses lots of energy.
• Some of the techniques involved in extracting oil from sands are big consumers of
water. Industrial use takes about 60% of water in rich countries and 10% in the rest.

15. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Treatment works cannot remove all the chemicals and some are
contaminating supplies which disrupt our Hormone Systems but also our
ecosystem.
Climate change effects on availability and quality.
More research is needed for progress to be made into sustainable water
management.
• Phthalates
• Nanoplastic
• Coal ash
• …

16. SOCIAL ISSUES
• Everyone must use less water if famine, pestilence and mass migration are not
to sweep the globe. The number of people on Earth is heading for 9 billion in
2050.
• The livelihood and mobility of people will be affected which could increase
workforce instability in operations and supply chains and impinge on
consumers’ access to retail stores.
• Just as luxury brands face evolving consumer needs and expectations, they also
face the influence of other key stakeholders, such as civil society, employees,
and investors, who increasingly have concerns about climate performance.
• Cosmetic products play an essential role in everyone’s life. Each day, 450
million Europeans use a variety of cosmetic products. The most obvious
societal aspect is their contribution to good hygiene, acceptance by others and
to self-esteem, which are essential for the population’s sanitary conditions,
health and well-being.

17. GOVERNMENTAL ISSUES
• Bringing supply and demand into equilibrium is painful, and political disputes
may increase in number and intensify in their capacity to cause trouble.
• Shortage of water, such as in Darfur in Sudan, has been a contributing factor to
conflict.
• Strengthened regulation for the prevention and control of fresh water pollution
and use of water Resources will lead to more stringent penalties for polluters,
wastewater discharge permit system…

18. KEY IMPACTS IN SUSTAINABILITY
The cosmetic industry holds major objectives that integrate social and
environmental responsibility:
• Make the precious and unique resource more sustainable by limiting the waste as much as possible
 Develop improved cosmetics products by reducing water usage and by innovating: organic and
sustainable production methods, green chemistry formulations, use of recycled water…
 Ethical sourcing of water,
 Reducing energy use, water footprint, switch to renewable alternatives (Site facilities to make use of
renewable energy & decrease emissions from mobility, direct investments and procurement spend to
companies that are climate resilient …)
 Reducing the chemical use in product design and manufacturing, sustainable packaging
• Optimizing water deliveries
• Wastewater consumption and management
• Labels (LCA, Cosmebio, Ecolabel), organic certification (Ecocert) and sustainable certifications (ISO 14001)
• Companies are faced with the challenge of translating their sustainability performance into credible
communication:
 Consumers information & education (toward product use),
 Product transparency,
 Post consumer recycling initiatives
 Employee training

19. COMPANIES USING THE SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL
• Water is one of the most sustainable resource.
• Cosmetic and cosmetic ingredient firms are regularly featured in green lists of global
enterprises. By making sustainable development a priority, they are paving the way and
opening doors for a new global economy. They are mostly focusing on environmental aspects.
• 7 cosmetic companies were listed in Ethisphere Institute’s 2014 World’s Most Ethical (WME)
Companies list. Cosmetic companies on the WME list were L’Oreal, Shiseido, Colgate-
Palmolive, Henkel, Natura Brasil, Kao Corporation, & Kimberley-Clark.
• Cosmetic sustainable luxury brands that works toward a more ethical and responsible use of
water are:
• L’Oreal: manufacturing facilities reduce their environmental impact, company’s carbon and water
footprint (wastewater treatment, wastewater filtration and water recycling, …)
• Estee Lauder: installed in their plant an innovative waste water treatment system which improved
the quality of effluentleaving the plants.
• Shiseido: recycle and reuse their wastewater
• Natura Brazil: has a supplier development program based on environmental, social & financial
criteria with tracking of indicators such as waterconsumption, CO2, and investment of employees
education

20. PROSPECTIVE INNOVATION AREA
• Water is a resource long squandered, now growing expensive and soon to be overwhelmed
by insatiable demand.
• Therefore, managing the world’s water resources, with sustainable water supply, is
foundational to the development.
• Cosmetic brands innovate to stay relevant, changing how they manufacture and formulate
products to limit their dependence on water.
• The use of wastewater is one of the most sustainable alternatives to coping with water
shortage.
• But no only. A New Category for Cosmetics has born: no water cosmetic
• Glamnatural: core products are formulated without water. Their products are far more concentrated.
• Corpora Flora: water free products formulated with biological and ultra-nourishing ingredients.
• Pur Attitude are anhydrous products, thanks to the Hyaluronix technology that self-adjusts to each
individual and draws 1,000 times it’s weight in moisture from the air, delivering pure hydration.