In this monthly roundup, sustainability remains firmly embedded in the beauty and personal care industry’s investment agenda, with companies moving beyond headline commitments toward practical changes in energy, packaging, materials and circularity. From carbon utilisation and renewable energy to refill systems and recycled materials, the focus is increasingly on building environmental improvements directly into products, manufacturing and supply chains.
Climate investment continues to form an important part of corporate strategy. L’Oréal renewed its Climate Emergency Fund with a further €20 million investment, reinforcing its commitment to supporting communities and ecosystems affected by climate change. Meanwhile, Unilever joined the Climate Group’s 24/7 Coalition, signalling a push toward matching operations with renewable electricity around the clock rather than relying solely on annual renewable energy targets.
Energy efficiency is also being addressed at an operational level. Amorepacific introduced companywide energy-saving measures, highlighting how sustainability strategies are increasingly extending into everyday business practices. As energy costs and emissions targets converge, efficiency is becoming both an environmental and financial priority.
Packaging remains one of the industry’s biggest areas of activity. L’Oréal expanded its global refill campaign in an effort to make refillable beauty more mainstream, reflecting the challenge of moving circular formats beyond niche adoption. In South Korea, LG H&H and LG Chem developed a recyclable packaging solution for large-format refill products, demonstrating how collaboration between beauty and materials specialists can help address technical barriers to circular packaging.
Investment in packaging expertise is accelerating too. Henkel upgraded its Packaging Competence Center to advance sustainable packaging innovation, strengthening internal capabilities around materials, design and recyclability. Beiersdorf, meanwhile, switched to 100% recycled aluminium aerosol cans in Europe, showing how established packaging formats can be redesigned to reduce reliance on virgin materials at scale.
Carbon itself is also emerging as a potential raw material. L’Oréal partnered with Dioxycle to explore turning carbon emissions into sustainable packaging materials, illustrating how next-generation climate technology could eventually transform the inputs used across beauty manufacturing. If successfully scaled, carbon utilisation technologies could open an entirely new pathway for reducing the industry’s dependence on fossil-derived materials.
The sustainable materials pipeline is attracting fresh capital. Seprify secured €13.4 million in Series A funding to scale its sustainable materials technology, highlighting investor appetite for alternatives capable of helping consumer goods companies meet increasingly demanding environmental targets. The development demonstrates how some of beauty’s most consequential sustainability advances may originate outside traditional cosmetics companies.
Circularity is also moving downstream into the consumer experience. Eternal Beauty launched Hong Kong’s first rinse-free beauty packaging recycling programme, addressing one of the practical barriers that can discourage consumers from recycling empty cosmetics packaging. Making collection and disposal easier will be critical if the industry is to translate packaging commitments into meaningful improvements in recycling rates.
Taken together, this monthly roundup points to a sustainability agenda becoming more practical, technological and integrated. Beauty companies are investing not only in ambitious climate targets, but in the infrastructure required to deliver them—from renewable energy and energy efficiency to refill systems, recycled aluminium and carbon-derived materials. In 2026, progress will increasingly be measured not by the scale of sustainability pledges, but by how effectively companies can turn those commitments into measurable change across the beauty value chain.
