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Unlocking Sustainable Innovation: Croda Consumer Care’s Brand Portfolio and Environmental Commitment
Interview with Angelina Gossen
Technical Marketing Manager Consumer Care, Croda
To start, could you provide us an overview of Croda’s commitment to sustainability in general and within the Consumer Care division?
Sustainability is at the heart of our corporate philosophy, and it is deeply integrated into our values and operations across all divisions, including Consumer Care. We aim to be the most sustainable supplier of innovative ingredients by 2030 and we intent to achieve this through three key aspects in our approach: by becoming Climate, Land and People Positive. So, how can this be transferred to our everyday lives?
We are dedicated to responsibly sourcing our raw materials. This means ensuring they are ethically and sustainably procured, while actively reducing our carbon footprint during the process. We invest significantly in research and development to create sustainable ingredients and solutions. Our innovations focus on enhancing product performance while minimising environmental. Already 57% of our organic raw materials are bio-based, with our target at 75% by 2030.
We collaborate closely with our customers to help them achieve their sustainability goals. This involves providing education and technical support to facilitate the integration of sustainable practices into their formulations, with a location-based approach to be able to respond to the locally individual needs of our customers.
A specific example of our People Positive commitment is, that in 2022, through the use of our solar-protection ingredients, Croda contributed to protecting more than 61 million people from potentially developing skin cancer. Here, we have already exceeded our target for 2030 of protecting at least 60 million people.
Croda has a diverse range of brands within Consumer Care. Could you elaborate on how these brands contribute to Croda’s sustainability targets?
Croda Consumer Care includes several well-recognised brands, each pursuing with distinct sustainability goals. Beginning with the Croda brand:
In Home Care, we have published the first Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for a biopolymer in 2022. This is the start of one of our biggest sustainability projects, as we head to have LCAs for our top 100 ingredients throughout all Croda by 2030. This will help suppliers, formulators, retailers, and customers understand the impact of our products beyond our factory gate, delivering greater transparency throughout the supply chain.
Through our Personal Care campaign Purposeful Beauty™, we have made it our mission to ensure an ethical and traceable supply chain in the sourcing of our materials, sharing transparent data around the manufacture of our ingredients, and transform our portfolio by producing sustainable, innovative technologies that promote healthy lives and wellbeing.
Sederma focuses on developing sustainable bioactive ingredients for the personal care sector with substantiated efficacy. Their know-how and the mastery of biotechnology, vegetal extraction and plant cell culture allows environmentally conscious sourcing, waste reduction as well as water- and energy savings.
Crodarom and Alban Muller form the Botanical Alliance and they are specialised in botanical extracts with an emphasis on biodiversity conservation. Crodarom has more than 20 years of experience in microwave-assisted extraction, and Alban Muller contributes with methods like Zeodration, a unique energy-saving and pollutant-free drying technique to transform botanical extracts from liquids into a powder form, to direct their research in the valorisation of plants via green technologies.
Our fragrance division includes the brands Iberchem and Parfex. Both contribute by developing eco-friendly fragrances with resource efficiency and responsible sourcing. Overall, these brands align with Croda’s comprehensive sustainability goals, offering unique contributions to create environmentally responsible solutions.
Could you share some insights into the emerging trends in sustainable formulations and ingredients, and how Croda is addressing them?
Consumers are increasingly seeking products that contain natural and organic ingredients. This trend has driven the demand for plant-based and sustainably sourced products. As an example, at Croda we offer the ECO range. We have our production site in Atlas Point, USA, where we produce ethylene oxide from biomass instead of crude oil. So, alongside many other ingredients that are already 100% bio-based, we have now the opportunity to offer our customers an even wider range of 100% bio-based products.
Another emerging trend we are experiencing is, that consumers are more aware of ingredients than ever before. Transparency and traceability are big topics that our industry is trying to cope with. Especially in B2B companies this is not always easy. At Croda, we therefore actively seek certifications, labels, and standards to offer our customers more traceable parameters: Cosmos, Ecocert, NaTrue, ISO certifications, as well as vegan-suitable, halal, and kosher certificates, just to name some.
Are there any collaborations or partnerships on the horizon that will help Croda accelerate its sustainability efforts in the Consumer Care sector?
Just recently, we have announced the acquisition of Solus BioTech, a global leader in premium, biotechnology-derived materials. With over 30 years of expertise in the development of naturally derived ceramides and phospholipids, the acquisition broadens our offering of high performance, natural ingredients for the beauty industry. Produced via biotechnology at a GMP compliant plant, these ingredients are ideal to cater for the growing trend in fermented ingredient claims and interest in holistic wellness claims seen post-pandemic. Solus BioTech has a deep commitment to a greener and more sustainable future, aligning their scientific advancements with environmental stewardship and is therefore a valuable enrichment towards our sustainability goals.
In conclusion, what message would you like to convey regarding Croda’s vision for a sustainable future in Consumer Care?
We are strongly committed to creating a sustainable future in ingredients manufacturing for the Home Care and Personal Care industry. We invite customers to look at our products as a symbol of quality and sustainability. To all industry professionals, I would like to say: Let us collaborate to lead the way towards a greener and more eco-conscious future together!
