In the heart of Paris, next to the famous Arc de Triomphe, the Union of Ethical Biotrade (UEBT) organized the seventh edition of their annual conference entitled “The Beauty of Sourcing with Respect.” This year, the event was dedicated to the subject of biodiversity in the segment of beauty and personal care products. Gathering more than 150 people in the beautiful venue of Etoile Saint Honore, the participant list was very diverse and included representatives of beauty companies, government representatives from several countries, UN and European Commission, as well as raw ingredient producers, press, and many others.
The first part of the morning session gave the participants a good overview of the natural personal care market with Kline’s Agnieszka Saintemarie presenting the results of the Natural Personal Care Global Series study, covering key features, developments, challenges, and opportunities on this market. After Kline’s presentation, highlights from the UEBT’s Biodiversity Barometer were presented. Interestingly, many aspects of this consumer research results were aligned with Kline’s market data, especially those related to perception of biodiversity by natural consumers. Both presentations were followed by a round table discussion on challenges and opportunities related to biodiversity with participants from beauty industry giants, such as L’Oréal and Yves Rocher, and founders of two interesting ventures – Beatrice de REYNAL of NutriMarketing and Fanny MAROUANI of Pomarium.
The second part of the morning session revealed a revolutionary project created by Natura, the Brazilian leading natural personal care marketer, and Symrise, an ingredient producer. Ecoparque was created with a noble goal of increasing the respectful sourcing from the Amazon region and giving back more to the local communities. This impressive undertaking has also the goal to bring technology to the region, which has until now been very much isolated. Representatives of Natura and Symrise were encouraging more companies to come and join their venture and to move their activities (whole or partly) to the Ecoparque. Two additional projects were showcased during the same session; A L’Oréal representative explained their quinoa sourcing project in Bolivia, and a new partnership between UTZ and UEBT for certifying herbal teas was presented.
During the afternoon, the hot topic was the new ABS (Access and Benefit Sharing) regulations, which seem to be giving a headache to ingredient producers and beauty companies. Kline’s Agnieszka Saintemarie was also invited to participate in the last round table discussion summarizing the outcomes of the conference and focusing on opportunities in terms of the biodiversity of beauty companies. She talked about how biodiversity and other sustainable practices fit within the whole image of “naturalness.”
With every new edition, Kline’s Natural Personal Care Global Series report analyses various brands active in the natural personal care arena. In 2014, the number of profiled brands is over 130. This includes an overview of their sustainability practices, as well as those geared towards the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. The new 2015 edition of Natural Personal Care: Global Market Brief will take a look at key developments on the market, as well as activities of naturally positioned brands coming from various parts of the globe.
Written by Agnieszka Saintemarie, Project Manager
