The 7th Asia-Pacific (APAC) edition of the Summit will return to Hong Kong on November 10 and 11, bringing together industry big-names, including AS Watson Group, Croda Beauty and more, to deliberate on sustainability challenges and opportunities in the beauty and personal care (BPC) sector.
Organised by Ecovia Intelligence, the event comprises two training workshops and three conference sessions, focusing on topics such as green ingredients, new technologies, and eco-friendly packaging solutions.
Ahead of the Summit, CosmeticsDesign-Asia spoke with two of the featured speakers — Chris Kuk, Innovation Manager (Skin care) at Croda Beauty, and Ashwajeet Garg, CEO of KHEONI — to hear how the industry and their companies are steering innovation and accountability across the value chain.
CDA: What are the biggest sustainability challenges faced by BPC companies in APAC today? How can brands and suppliers work to overcome these?
Chris Kuk: In the APAC market, we’re seeing tension between rising consumer demand for sustainable products and expectations for high performance and sensorial appeal, presenting a challenge for cosmetics and personal care companies.
This challenge is compounded by increasing consumer awareness of sustainability, which is putting pressure on brands to examine their supply chains and measure environmental impact across the full product life cycle.
According to GlobalData’s Q2 2024 Consumer Survey, 49% of respondents in Asia and Australasia stated that their cosmetic purchasing decisions are influenced by how ethical, environmentally friendly, or socially responsible a product is.
To address these concerns and ensure that products appeal to the widest possible audience, brands can adopt tools like Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) to identify emissions hotspots and guide lower-impact formulation, helping brands build narratives that resonate with conscious consumers. But to deliver these insights, collaboration across the supply chain to improve data quality and sourcing transparency will be crucial.
Ashwajeet Garg: A major challenge is managing plastic waste — segregation, recycling, and control. Once the product is bought, used and discarded, there is hardly any control on where those plastic tubes or containers end up.
Differing regulations or the lack of stringent regulations across APAC are not bringing a stop to polluting practices and ingredients. In fact, the lack of education and regulation has allowed for some ingredients to be widely used, while they are controlled in places like the EU. Palm oil and microbeads are classic examples.
Furthermore, consumers have become skeptical of marketing claims and are aware of greenwashing. This erodes brand trust, and requires companies to be transparent and provide verifiable evidence of their sustainable practices. Governments are beginning to address greenwashing and misleading claims through regulatory action. China, for instance, prohibits false content in advertisements.
Brands and suppliers can overcome these challenges through various channels. These include collaborative innovation in green technology, circular practices, and sustainable raw materials; empowering local communities; educating customers on good practices; investing in greener packaging infrastructure, understanding the availability of compostable materials in each country, and supporting the production of packaging materials that can be readily used and are certified by the cosmetics industry; working closely with the recycling industry; and directly or indirectly support tree and forest plantation.
CDA: How is innovation in ingredients, manufacturing, packaging, or even retail shaping the future of sustainable beauty? What opportunities do you see with the emergence of technologies like artificial intelligence and precision fermentation? What developments are you most excited to discuss at the Summit?
Chris Kuk: Innovation is reshaping sustainable beauty in transformative ways. Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a dual role: first, in enabling hyper-personalised skin care through diagnostic tools and smart dispensers, and second, in formulation design.
For example, L’Oréal and IBM have partnered to develop an AI model that analyses formulation data to help identify sustainable raw materials, and reduce energy and material waste. Moving forward, AI could allow brands to create products that are not only tailored to individual needs but also aligned with sustainability goals.
We believe the key to successfully harnessing AI in sustainable formulation stems from robust data and supply chain transparency. At the Summit, we’re excited to explore the impact of the different scope emissions on overall PCF and the benefits of improving emissions transparency in the supply chain. We’ll also demonstrate how small formulation changes guided by PCF data can lead to significant carbon reductions at scale.
Ashwajeet Garg: AI can help in product development, customisation based on studying skin and patterns, and also simulation. For instance, AI can simulate tests like chemical reactions and stability, and provide faster R&D, saving millions of innovation costs. AI in retail can bring personalised recommendations, virtual try-ons of makeup, skin analysis, and enhance customer experience.
Precision fermentation can help create specific compounds for various needs. Since it is not majorly dependent on plant or animal sources for synthesis, it can provide innovative ingredients with more efficacy without harming natural resources.
Brands are investing in green chemistry and biotech to create eco-friendly formulations, such as using plant-based or natural solvents as well as waterless and solid-based formulas that reduce water consumption and pollution.
CDA: How have consumer awareness and demand for sustainable beauty in Asia evolved in recent years? How should industry stakeholders navigate these changing expectations while maintaining product efficacy and performance?
Chris Kuk: Consumer awareness of sustainable beauty in Asia has grown rapidly and is now a defining force in the market. According to Euromonitor, 31% of APAC beauty consumers prioritise all-natural ingredients, while 25% demand sourcing transparency. This shift is seen to be rooted in their perceived safety, gentleness, and cultural significance.
The market for sustainable beauty products in Asia grew at a CAGR of 9% between 2020 and 2023, nearly double the industry average. By 2027, GlobalData estimates the region will account for over half of global growth in sustainable beauty sales.
To meet these evolving expectations, brands can leverage PCF data to highlight ingredients with lower climate impact and quantify any potential carbon savings they make in their formulations following decarbonisation activities. Transparent communication through the likes of carbon labels, QR codes, and third-party certifications can build consumer trust and support informed choices. At the same time, brands must continue to deliver on efficacy, using tools like PCF data to balance performance with environmental impact.
Ashwajeet Garg: Factors like location, age, lifestyle and culture play a part. Overall, there is a growing trend of consumers wanting sustainable beauty. Almost all of Asia has a rich history of natural ingredients and traditional remedies, so anything natural or herbal is considered good, but the major shift from mere natural to sustainable is still a long journey.
This shift is driven by increased internet penetration, a greater awareness of environmental issues, and simultaneously and unfortunately, limited knowledge and claims restricted to branding by a few beauty companies have also led to greenwashing.
Industry stakeholders must navigate these changes by educating consumers on sustainable practices with adjusted efficacy and performance. As long as consumers understand that a magic formula or an “instant bright” comes at a massive cost of the environment, they would be willing to change their expectations. However, to seasoned consumers who expect certain efficacy and performance, this will be a tough task and sell.
CDA: Regulatory shifts are a major driver of sustainability initiatives. What are some of the most important regulations in APAC that could impact cosmetics brands and companies on their green journey?
Chris Kuk: The regulatory landscape in APAC offers its own challenges, with rules varying significantly from country to country. Unlike regions such as Europe, APAC lacks unified sustainability mandates, making compliance and strategic planning more difficult for multinational brands.
Yet, developments across the region are shaping the sustainability agenda for cosmetics brands. For example, China’s “Dual Carbon” goals aim to peak emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. These are supported by an evolving Carbon Labelling System, which will require brands to disclose product-level emissions data to promote low-carbon consumption.
At the same time, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes are gaining traction across the region, placing greater accountability on brands for the life cycle of their packaging and products.
These frameworks signal a shift toward more stringent sustainability requirements. Brands that proactively embed sustainability into product design, track and report emissions, and engage in responsible sourcing will be better positioned to comply with future regulations and gain a competitive advantage.
Ashwajeet Garg: While every major country in APAC has come up with its own regulations, they are mainly geared towards safety. As far as sustainability is concerned, I find ASEAN Cosmetic Directive (ACD) to be one of the most effective and updated, with a special emphasis on banning environment-harming ingredients, in line with those of the EU.
A growing number of APAC countries are implementing or exploring EPR schemes, which hold brands financially and operationally responsible for the end-of-life management of their packaging.
For example, Singapore implemented mandatory packaging reporting for brands with revenue over $10m in 2020, laying the groundwork for a full EPR scheme and a Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS) commenced in 2025.
In the Philippines, a law was passed in 2022 that holds large enterprises accountable for recovering a percentage of their plastic packaging, with aggressive targets of 20% in 2023 to 80% by 2028.
CDA: What key takeaways do you hope attendees will gain from your session at the Summit, and how can they apply these insights to their own businesses?
Chris Kuk: We hope attendees leave our session with a clear understanding of how PCFs can serve as a strategic tool for sustainable innovation. By identifying emissions hotspots, brands can introduce targeted reduction strategies, and make informed decisions about ingredient selection and formulation. We’ll also highlight the importance of Scope 3 emissions, which often represent the majority of a product’s carbon footprint, and demonstrate how addressing these can lead to meaningful environmental impact.
These insights can be applied by integrating PCF data into procurement and product development, communicating sustainability credentials effectively, and fostering collaboration across the supply chain to improve data accuracy and drive collective decarbonisation.
Ashwajeet Garg: The smallest of companies and start-ups are capable of bringing meaningful change. In our case, it started with planting a forest. After eight years of relentless work and planting 40,000 trees over a barren hill, it is today a biodiversity-awarded site.
We worked with communities to stop forest fires and educated them on a better way of procurement of a certain forest produce. They got better income for a new derivative of the product, and some of their dependency on the forest ecosystems reduced.
Within two years, with very limited resources, we developed a carbon-negative single-ingredient body butter bar. It is a myth that small companies cannot do sustainable product development.
For more information on the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit or to register, visit the event website here.
