Sustainability and biotechnology set the tone for the 34th IFSCC Congress, taking place Oct. 14-17, 2024, in Iguazu Falls, Brazil. During their pre-congress workshops, L'Oréal and Grupo Boticário presented ideas and innovations supporting these themes, which alongside the natural beauty and wonder of the subtropical rainforest, truly embraced the larger conference focus of "Biodiversity and Cosmetics: Reaching Sustainable Technologies."
Sustainability is a Necessity and the Time is Right
"Sustainability is no longer a choice, it is a necessity," said L'Oréal's Ariane Dimitrov, emerging markets, L4TF and Green Sciences Transformation Director. She added that right now, the industry has a "license to operate" and make it happen.
L'Oréal's workshop opened with an introduction by Ariane Dimitrov, the company's emerging markets, L4TF and Green Sciences Transformation Director. She welcomed attendees, emphasizing the need to translate sustainable ideas into action and to re-shape and drive meaningful change in consumer behavior.
"Sustainability is no longer a choice, it is a necessity," she said, adding that right now, the industry has a "license to operate" and make it happen. Why? According to Dimitrov:
- Consumers are currently engaged and willing,
- The regulatory landscape is changing – presenting an opportunity,
- The issue of credibility is becoming more crucial as consumers seek brands they can trust that embody sustainable tenets, and
- Advances in science and tech give us tools to explore new frontiers of innovation in biotech – to provide high-performance products that meet consumer needs.
9 Planetary Boundaries and Biosphere Integrity
Next up, Emily Dionizio, greenhouse gas specialist for the WRI (World Resources Institute), explored environmental science and what the planet can sustain. She laid the foundation with a discussion on biosphere integrity; i.e., the health of, and interactions between, ecosystems around the world. "We all know about climate change. Biosphere integrity is harder to understand," said Dionizio.
She outlined how science can measure the health of the planet through nine planetary "boundaries," each representing a system that can help humanity support a sustainable life:
- Biosphere*
- Climate*
- Pollution*
- Ozone
- Aerosols
- Ocean pH
- Nutrients*
- Fresh water
- Land use**
Per Dionizio, humanity can operate "safely" within each of these until a limit is reached, at which point that system is lost and can no longer help the planet heal itself. Dionizio emphasized that these boundaries are also interdependent, and companies must consider them holistically as they build their sustainability strategies.
* we've pushed to "high risk" levels; ** we're seeing increased risk - so far
Eco-design, White Biotech, Bisabolol, Precision Fermented HA
Isabelle Rollat, director of sustainable innovation and eco-design for L’Oréal R&I, then discussed how to take this knowledge of the planetary boundaries and put it into action. Per Rollat, the eco-design of ingredients and formulas includes everything from:
- the production of feedstock (considering bio-based, abundance, circularity, hold flat ecosystem) and
- transformation of raw materials (using green extraction, green chemistries, biotechnology and fermentation),
- through manufacturing the formula,
- consumer use of the formula (considering water consumption) and
- end-of-life of the formula (ensuring biodegradability, water quality).
- Carbon emissions are also an area of focus throughout all processes.
Following, Rollat, Mathias Fleury, head of the actives category at Givaudan, described sustainable sourcing practices and the green transformation of ingredients. Per Fleury, Givaudan gained expertise in the biotech field when it acquired Alderys in 2020, a company focused on “strain engineering,” with the goal to build new hero products for the future.
"When it comes to biotech, it's fascinating because we always talk about it in reference to colors: blue biotech (microalgae), white biotech (fermentation and biocatalysis) and green biotech (plant cell cultures)," Fleury explained. He then provided some white biotech-derived ingredient examples from Givaudan's portfolio.
First: bisabolol. Initially, it was sourced from chamomile but was then transformed as a bisabolol isomer from the bark of Candeia tree in Brazil. This took a long time to grow and gave a low yield, however, and while petrochemical synthesis was another option, per Fleury, this is not a clean option. As such, the company took "an in-between approach" using strain engineering to optimally ferment and purify sugar cane, ultimately obtaining the active bisabolol isomer.
The company took a similar step-wise process to refine its hyaluronic acid ingredients, which are now offered as vegan suitable and in different molecular weights. In addition, Fleury described the company's use of precision fermentation to develop a novel upcoming hyaluronic acid (HA) with a reported 91% lower global environmental footprint; the product launched the January as PrimalHyal 50 Life.
Quantifying Sustainability, Communicating to Consumers: EcoBeauty Score Consortium
In the last presentation of the session, Iguatemi Costa, senior scientific manager for natural and sustainable ingredients at Natura, and Rollat introduced the EcoBeautyScore Consortium and scoring system. The consortium was created in 2021 and per Costa, takes the product environmental footprint and "tries to translate or make it real and objective for the industry to make this calculation."
This includes factoring various categories of impact, normalizing and weighting given values, and abbreviating this into a final number communicated to the consumer – in a way that the companies all agree. "The scoring was a big piece of importance in terms of delivery," said Costa, who added that most of the testing was performed in 2023 and the platform is now in the process of going live. "We are confident that what we have is meaningful and understandable to consumers," he said.
Biotechnology in Action: Upcycling, Yeast Mycosporins, Biotech and Collaborations
During the second half of the day, Grupo Boticário delved deeper into biotech to support sustainability.
Briefly, the sessions included:
- Upcycling and biotechnology: Jaciane Lutz Ienczak, adjunct professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, who presented: "Sustainable Innovation in the Cosmetics Industry: Upcycling and the Vanguard of Biotechnological Products;"
- Yeast mycosporins and their utility were presented by Renata Pascon, of Universidade Federal de São Paulo;
- Sustainable actives production via biotech was highlighted by Flavia Guaragna, research and technology Latin America director, of Croda;
- Collaborations in biotech were discussed by Marissa Zonta, especialista pesquisa e inteligência de produtos, of Grupo Boticário; and
- Characterizing biotech materials, Juliana Cibi Amorim Telles, of Grupo Boticário, gave "An Overview on Characterization, Safety and Efficacy During Ingredient and Product Development."
Welcome Celebration, Awards and After-party
Prof. Vania Leite, Ph.D., IFSCC President, gives opening remarks
Following the workshops, the first day ended with a welcome celebration, where IFSCC president Prof. Vania Leita, Ph.D., shared "this congress really is about change; changing to adapt, evolving as a scientist (and even changing congress locations and organizers, year to year)." She added that everything is changing faster and therefore encouraged attendees to stop, take pause, learn new ideas and meet new friends. And this year's event registered an impressive 1,400 attendees from 34 countries, providing ample opportunity to do just that.
Leita thanked the attendees, the congress organizing team and sponsors (divided into groups and recognized by their respective Amazonian locations) and honored the IFSCC Praesidium. Following this, awards were presented, including:
- The 2024 Henry Maso Award for Young Scientists, which went to Anna Okishima, scientific researcher at Shiseido, Japan, for the paper, "Transcending the Limitation of Cosmetics: Ionic Liquids-inspired Novel Skin Penetration System as an Alternative to Medical Beauty Treatments;" and
- The 2024 Maison G. deNavarre Young Scientist Essay Prize, which went to Kerry-Anne Viljoen, of Environ, South Africa, for the paper, "Sustainability and Circular Economy in Cosmetic Formulations: Life Cycle Thinking."
IFSCC Praesdium Members (from L): Sunghao Lee, Ph.D., public relations and benefactors; Nicola Lionetti, chair of publication; Perry Romanowski, chair of education; Tomoko Sekine, Ph.D., chair of science; Remo Campiche, Ph.D., committee member 1; Robert McPherson, committee member 2; Isabelle Castiel, Ph.D., committee member 3; Peter Tsolis, treasurer; Andrea Weber, Ph.D., honorary secretary, Prof. Vania Leite, Ph.D., vice president (president-elect), Tony Gough, Ph.D., immediate past president; and (speaking) Carmina Casas, president (outgoing)
The congress opening ceremony featured entertainment by Beauty Fair, showcasing traditional styles of dance from different Brazilian regions. The evening wrapped up with a cocktail reception, food, more dancing and live music — plus some very enthusiastic table game (foosball and pool) face-offs and soccer drills.
