With two-thirds of consumers saying they are willing to spend more for
them,
sustainable products are officially big business. This growing preference —
which comes at a critical time for the climate crisis — is propped up by new
guidelines requiring manufacturers to disclose their emissions and state
initiatives to close gaps in federal oversight by requiring cosmetic and
personal care products to disclose ingredients.
But as demand for sustainability grows, companies are struggling to keep up.
Moves toward capitalizing on consumer preferences to market products as
sustainable have not always been effective or truthful — a practice widely known
as
greenwashing
— which not only violates consumer safety and trust but a growing number of
government regulations.
Last year, for example, Sephora faced a class action
lawsuit
for misusing the term “clean” — with customers alleging that products with the
label contain plenty of synthetic ingredients, some of which can cause skin
irritation. Meanwhile, companies ranging from Burger King to Burt’s
Bees
are also facing litigation for mislabeling products or packaging as sustainable
and natural when they contain
PFAS
— synthetic chemical compounds also known as “forever
chemicals”
that are associated with cancer, liver damage and decreased fertility.
Cases like these add to confusion that consumers face when it comes to the
marketplace: Many of those surveyed seldom or never believe
claims
that products are eco-friendly. Evidence suggests they have good reason not to.
In 2021, ChemScore, an annual ranking of the world’s chemical companies
based on their environmental footprint produced by the non-profit ChemSec, found
that 38 out of 50
companies
profiled offered no public information on hazardous chemicals while marketing
their products as cleaner and more sustainable.
To ensure that the everyday products we use are truly sustainable, we must begin
their production with what makes them genuinely so: Sustainable chemicals.
Sustainable or bio-based chemicals — which are derived from biological materials
such as plants — can improve the performance, environmental impact and cost of
the chemicals that go into products.
With Deloitte
estimating
the US chemical industry’s greenhouse gas emissions to exceed over 200
million metric tons per year, the growing development and
availability
of bio-based alternatives to traditional, petroleum-based chemicals that we use
for personal
care,
cleaning,
food,
transportation and more; and the market opportunity for them is rapidly growing:
According to estimates from the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development, the economic opportunity for bio-based products is slated to
reach $7.7 trillion by
2030.
Tapping into the business of bio-based chemicals quickly and affordably to keep
up with consumer demand is one key to helping achieve the climate goals set
forth by governments in the US and across Europe.
One promising path for the chemical industry to enable true sustainability in
everyday products involves engineering microbes in a natural process known as
precision
fermentation
— which uses renewable agricultural feedstock such as sugar to nourish microbial
organisms which then work to produce chemicals that can be used in many market
segments — from home care and
food
to
materials
and more. Beyond the true sustainability benefits of production that are passed
onto consumers, manufacturing bio-based chemicals can contribute to the
onshoring of jobs and localizing supply chains.
Consumers deserve access to functional, sustainable and affordable products
without having to sacrifice quality or their health. Scalable, bio-based
chemicals hold tremendous promise in accomplishing these goals.
With pioneering policies such as the Biden administration’s $2 billion
initiative
to advance biomanufacturing to support chemical decarbonization, the time is now
to deliver on solutions that keep both consumers and the planet top of mind.
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Dr. Matthew Lipscomb is CEO and co-founder of DMC Biotechnologies — a Colorado-based company that fuses sustainable chemistry with business sense. His career has included a range of development stages from early R&D to commercial deployment in a variety of sectors, including both industrial and pharmaceutical biotechnology. Previously, he was a founding employee of OPX Biotechnologies and served in various roles during his tenure there. He provided project leadership on the execution of a successful Department of Energy (DOE) ARPA-E Electrofuels program ($6M) for the production of biodiesel from H2 and CO2. His technical expertise includes microbial fermentation, process development, process modeling, analytical chemistry, and techno economic analysis (TEA) of bio-based processes.
Published Jul 19, 2023 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST