Geno, a leader in sustainable materials, today welcomed global beauty company L'Oréal as the third and final founding investor in its venture to develop, produce and commercialize biotech alternatives to essential ingredients in the formulation of cosmetics, personal care and everyday household products. As the world's leading beauty company, L'Oréal's participation gives it access to the $571.10 billion beauty and personal care market, bringing the members' collective sales to more than $100 billion, with products that reach billions of people. Along with fellow founding members Unilever and Kao Corporation, the Geno-led company is committed to meeting the growing demand for sustainable ingredients by using biotechnology to improve the environmental profile of popular products and meet consumer demand for more traceable supply chains.
Geno will deploy its proven biotechnology platform, using proprietary microorganisms to ferment plant sugars that produce ingredients to make sustainable surfactants. These new ingredients will be used in a range of L'Oréal products, marking a key step toward L'Oréal's goals of 100% of eco-designed formulas that respect the diversity of aquatic ecosystems and 95% of ingredients from renewable plant sources or abundant minerals by 2030.
As part of its sustainability program, L'Oréal for the Future, the beauty leader has focused on partnering with proven biotechnology innovators, such as Geno, to explore, develop and manufacture more sustainable ingredients for the everyday products the world needs.
Christophe Schilling, CEO of Geno, said, " Welcoming L'Oréal to this incredible team of global brands signifies how important and urgent the need for traceable, resilient and sustainable materials is at scale. L'Oréal's commitment confirms Geno's ability to deliver products at scale and accelerates our drive to reduce global carbon emissions by more than 100 million tons in the coming years by targeting large-scale materials markets. We are excited to help L'Oréal achieve its bold 2030 goals of incorporating 95 % of organically sourced ingredients in formulations and using traceable and sustainably sourced packaging materials. This partnership will allow our project to reach the global scale necessary to meet the strong market demand for sustainable products" .
Barbara Lavernos, Executive Vice President of Research, Innovation and Technology for L'Oréal, said: "This is a great opportunity for L'Oréal.t L'Oréal, we believe that science has the power to create a better world, and we are committed to using our expertise to drive positive change in the beauty industry. That's why we've made Green Science, our new scientific and sustainable revolution, the cornerstone of our Research. We are delighted to partner with Geno, whose unique approach to the development of biotechnology-based alternative ingredients fits perfectly with our vision of a more sustainable future. By collaborating with others in the beauty industry, we can leverage our collective expertise and resources wherever our collective efforts can have a meaningful purpose" .
Sanford Browne, president of research and innovation for North America at L'Oréal, said, " This initiative not only supports our goal of providing consumers with responsible and innovative beauty solutions, but also strengthens our innovation ecosystem in North America. It is a clear signal of our willingness to collaborate with partners who share our commitment to sustainability and reducing our environmental impact to create beauty that transforms the world."
