Walmart, Target and Forum for the Future (FFTF) have established three working groups to take forward actions agreed at last year’s beauty and personal care (BPC) product sustainability summit, according to ChemicalWatch. The groups will focus on aspects of chemicals in products.
Working Group 1 — Supply Chain Information Sharing
Co-chaired by representatives of CVS, Dow and 7th Generation, this group is focusing on a process for sharing information along the supply chain, with a particular emphasis on ingredients. It will look at how to protect intellectual property when sharing ingredient information, developing a robust data system and making sure that relevant data is collected.
Working Group 2 — Evaluating Product Sustainability
Co-chaired by representatives from EDF, Method and Eastman Chemical Company, this group aims to establish science-based criteria for evaluating product sustainability. A commonly agreed-upon set has not yet been achieved, which highlights the challenging nature of this group.
Working Group 3 — Collaboration and Preservative Systems
Co-chairs for this group will come from BASF, the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, the EDF, Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble and Unilever. It is examining two ideas: a pre-competitive model of working together, and R&D on preservative systems. This group has decided that the two ideas it will be focusing on requiring new ways of working together. Initial development will look at shared briefings on existing R&D and coming together to fund and develop alternatives. Understanding the legal implications of these efforts is also a consideration.
In the project’s next stage, group participants will collaborate with Target, Walmart and FFTF to refine the scope of each workstream, ChemicalWatch reports. A plan will then be established for the project, now called the BPC Innovation Accelerator.
A recent report by CDP and Accenture found that a lack of preparation has left supply chains in Brazil, China, India and the United States more vulnerable to climate risks than those in Europe and Japan. However, suppliers in China and India deliver the greatest financial return on investment to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrate the strongest appetite for collaboration across the value chain.
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Founder, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Jan 30, 2015 10am EST / 7am PST / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET