Beauty and Society: this was one the themes dealt with at the 28th IFSCC congress held on 27-30 October 2014 in Paris, with a whole day of conferences ending with a symposium organized by L’Oréal on the same topic… Or how the cosmetics sector is becoming aware of its responsibility regarding the planet’s sustainable development, and is working out solutions to face its related challenges.
The issue is the same for all the speakers who took part in this day of conferences: the planet Earth’s population is growing exponentially, while its available resources are constantly depleting. If nothing is done, or too late, it will be a catastrophe.
And as an industry, the cosmetics sector bears some of the responsibility, both in the current situation and in the effort to elaborate strategies to improve it. Sustainable development is a concept no one can afford to ignore anymore, whether it be as part of the global philosophy of a company, or in the actions it should take to make it take shape.
Sustainable development? To Thomas Welss, of Henkel, it is ‘the conjunction of the satisfaction of today’s needs without jeopardizing that of future generations.’
To William Russell, Professor at the University of Columbia, USA and one of the directors of the Transitioning to Green consulting firm, who was in charge of the opening conference on that day, it is a pressing need: ‘Every year, we consume 50% more resources than we produce’, he said.
Then he reminded everyone of the challenges of sustainability.
Sustainability and suffering
What is the situation right now?
For this former …
