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J. Cosmet. Sci., 76.1, 13–24 (January/February 2025)
*Address all corespondance to Anna Howe, anna.howe@evonik.com
Bottle Your Sustainability Goals – Minimize Your
Environmental and Volatile Organic Compounds Footprint in
Sun Care Products
ANNA HOWE, ERIN KING, MIYAKO HISAMOTO AND VERENA DAHL
Evonik Corporation, Richmond, Virginia, USA (A.H., E.K., M.H.)
Evonik Operations GmbH, Essen, Germany (V.D.)
Accepted for publication August 08, 2024.
SCC75 Scientific Meeting &Showcase December 15, 2021
Synopsis
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) have garnered the attention of various public health agencies in the United
States. In California, for instance, the California Air Resources Board enforces limits on VOCs in specific
consumer products, including cosmetics, and has discretionary powers to impose fines and penalties. With the
post-COVID consumer and brands focusing on the sustainability of personal care products, ingredient choice
can play a significant role in addressing both concerns, particularly in sun care applications where consumers
prioritize product performance and in-use sensory attributes. To reduce VOC levels, we will examine emollient
ester feedstocks and manufacturing processes that have been optimized to minimize CO2 emissions. We will
also analyze the physiochemical properties of these emollients to identify sustainable substitutes for volatile
ingredients, such as ethanol, while ensuring in-use performance and sensory attributes are maintained.
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY
The increased awareness of the importance of environmental protection, and the possible
impacts associated with products, both manufactured and consumed, has increased interest
in the development of methods to better understand and address these impacts.
ISO 14040 is an environmental management standard that describes the principal
and outline framework for conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA can assist in
identifying opportunities to improve the environmental performance of products at various
points in their life cycle. It also informs decision-makers in industry, government, or non-
government organizations for strategic planning, priority setting, or process design. This
includes selecting relevant environmental performance indicators, determining appropriate
measurement techniques, and identifying marketing strategies for making environmental
claims, such as implementing ecolabelling schemes.

14 JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE
Life cycle is consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material
acquisition or generation from natural resources to final disposal (Figure 1). LCA addresses
the environmental aspects and potential environmental impacts, for example, the use of
resources and the environmental consequences of releases throughout a product’s life cycle
from raw material acquisition through production, use, end-of-life treatment, recycling,
and final disposal.
GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL IMPACT OF COSMETICS
A circular economy or circularity is “a model of production and consumption, which
involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials
and products as long as possible” that aims at tackling global challenges like climate
change, biodiversity loss, and waste.2
Global warming can be addressed through four key pillars. The first pillar is feedstocks,
focusing on the origin of materials, cultivation techniques, land use and changes, and
transportation impacts. The second is processes, which involve evaluating energy use and
its sources, water consumption (including virtual water), yields, purification methods,
and waste management. The third pillar is formulations, where we consider factors such
as active ingredients, renewable content, multifunctional raw materials, and processing
temperatures. Finally, the fourth pillar is applications, which examine formulation efficacy
and product forms—such as transitioning from water-based to water-free options—
requiring minimal packaging and thereby reducing landfill waste.
Circle Economy calculates that 62% of global greenhouse gas emissions (excluding those
from land use and forestry) are released during the extraction, processing, and manufacturing
of goods to serve society’s needs only 38% are emitted in the delivery and use of products
and services (see Figure 2).
FEEDSTOCK SELECTION IMPACT ON CO2 EQUIVALENTS
When we investigate the production of cosmetic raw materials and quantify the carbon
footprint from cradle-to-gate, we see that the impact of transportation has a comparably
minimal impact. The raw material selection has the largest CO
2 impact, followed by
processing/energy.
Figure 1. Life cycle assessment (according to ISO 14040 /ISO 14044).1