Marketing & Communications

Global Personal Care Brands Now Publishing Their EcoBeautyScores

First industry-wide environmental scoring system developed for cosmetics through collaboration with over 70 global brands and trade associations.

Published 4 months ago | About a 5 minute read

Image: Nivea

Global beauty brands including Eucerin, Garnier, L’Oréal Paris, Neutrogena, Nivea, Schauma and more have begun publishing their EcoBeautyScore — the first global, science-based environmental scoring system for cosmetics and personal care products — in select markets across Europe and UK.

Developed over three years by the not-for-profit EcoBeautyScore Association — in collaboration with over 70 cosmetics and personal care companies and associations — the scoring system offers brands and retailers a clear, transparent and consistent way to measure and communicate the environmental footprint of beauty products. Rooted in the EU’s Product Environmental Footprint methodology, EcoBeautyScore rates products from A to E according to their impact on land, water and air over the full lifecycle of the product.

It’s projected that consumers will spend more than $150 billion on beauty and personal care products in Europe in 2025, with demand for more sustainable options on the rise. However, half of European consumers remain skeptical of brands’ sustainability claims — suspecting they don’t accurately reflect the real environmental impact of products.

Against this backdrop, the EcoBeautyScore offers a timely and practical solution — translating complexity into a scientifically robust, yet accessible scoring system. The rigorous measurement process evaluates a product’s environmental impact across its entire lifecycle — analyzing everything from ingredient sourcing and packaging materials to how a product is used and disposed of. Consumers can find participating brands’ EcoBeautyScores on their websites; on-product labeling will be available in Europe in late 2025.

The EcoBeautyScore methodology and platform have been reviewed and verified by external experts, and brands using the scoring system will be regularly audited and certified by an independent third party. Consumer demand for this kind of transparency is already strong: In a global Ipsos study⁴ of more than 9,000 consumers across Brazil, China, France and the US, more than two-thirds say the EcoBeautyScore label builds trust; and the majority intend to take the EBS score into consideration for purchases.

Neutrogena
EcoBeautyScore Image credit: Neutrogena

“EcoBeautyScore gives the beauty industry the transparency tool it has long been missing,” says Jean-Baptiste Massignon, Managing Director of the EBS Association. “For the first time, brands can communicate their environmental impact in a way that is science-based, consistent and easy for consumers to understand. Through a simple-to-use scoring platform, companies have access to a wealth of data about the environmental hotspots of their products — making it accessible for brands of all sizes, no matter their sustainability expertise.

“It’s encouraging to see pioneering companies begin publishing their scores; it marks an important milestone of collective openness and accountability across the sector,” Massignon added. “We know this won’t happen overnight, but this is how progress starts: with a shared framework, honest data and a commitment to informing better choices for the planet.”

After years of development and testing, the EcoBeautyScore system is now being applied to four product categories: shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face care products. It’s open to all cosmetics and personal care manufacturers, with early adopters already publishing scores and more expected in the coming months. The system is free to trial and comes with onboarding support for brands of all sizes. Launching first in Europe, it will gradually expand worldwide and cover the full range of beauty products.

Brands which have published scores so far include: Eucerin and Nivea Q10 (Beiersdorf), Garnier and L’Oréal Paris (L’Oréal), Neutrogena (Kenvue), and Schauma (Henkel).

“We are thrilled to see the hard work of the past years result in such a concrete and unique tool,” says Dr. Gitta Neufang, Chief R&D Officer at Beiersdorf. “This joint initiative is a significant step forward, and we are grateful for the collaboration across more than 70 industry partners. It will create a lasting impact and positive change.”

The EcoBeautyScore was also shaped by lessons learned from founding member L'Oréal's Product Impact Labeling system, rolled out in France in 2020 and the US in 2022, which gave consumers the relative environmental impact of each product compared to other L'Oréal products in the same category. The cosmetics giant transitioned from its own product-impact labeling to the EcoBeautyScore when it became available in late 2023.

“Calculating the environmental impact of a beauty product is an inherently complex process that has traditionally required expert analysis,” says EcoBeautyScore Scientific Director Laurent Gilbert. “What we’ve done with EcoBeautyScore is distill that complexity into a scientifically robust, yet accessible scoring platform.

“Grounded in the methodology recognized by the European Commission as the most effective to measure environmental footprint, it evaluates a product’s impact across 16 dimensions — including carbon emissions, water usage and resource depletion. This level of detail gives brands and retailers a clear understanding of areas for improvement, while providing consumers with a simple, transparent score to guide more sustainable choices. It is both technically rigorous and easy to understand, and that combination is what makes it a powerful tool for driving progress in the beauty industry.”

Beauty brands and manufacturers interested in joining the movement toward greater transparency can access a free trial of the EcoBeautyScore system here.

1,4 Ipsos study, Assessing Consumer Interest Best Design And Narrative EcoBeautyScore – March 2023