Science and Methodology

The four indicators in this group measure how a product affects the atmosphere - both the gases that drive long-term climate change and the pollutants that affect the air we breathe day to day. For most cosmetics, the impact in this group is driven by energy used to grow and process ingredients, transport finished goods, and heat the water consumers use during application.

Climate change - The most familiar of the indicators: total greenhouse gas emissions across the product's life cycle, expressed in kilograms of CO₂-equivalent. This rolls together carbon dioxide from energy and transport, methane from agriculture (palm, coconut, dairy-derived ingredients), and nitrous oxide from fertiliser use. For many rinse-off cosmetics the largest single contributor is the hot water consumers use during application at home - often more than the manufacturing itself.

Ozone depletion - Damage to the stratospheric ozone layer, the part of the upper atmosphere that filters out harmful UV radiation. Measured in kilograms of CFC-11 equivalent. Modern cosmetic formulations rarely contain ozone-depleting substances directly, but small impacts still appear through cooling agents and propellants used during ingredient production and packaging manufacture.

Photochemical ozone formation - Ground-level smog: the haze that forms when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides react in sunlight. Unlike stratospheric ozone, this is harmful at the level we breathe, contributing to respiratory disease and crop damage. Sources include solvent and fragrance evaporation, transport emissions, and certain manufacturing processes.

Particulate matter - Fine airborne particles small enough to enter the lungs and bloodstream, linked to heart and lung disease worldwide. The indicator measures emissions of PM2.5 and its precursors across the supply chain. Combustion-heavy steps - energy generation, freight transport, certain raw-material processes - are the main contributors.

Cosmetics interact with water more than most product categories. Water is often the largest ingredient by mass, rinse-off products literally go down the drain, and ingredient crops are irrigated upstream. These three indicators capture both the amount of water consumed and the quality of water bodies affected.

Water use - Net consumption of freshwater across the life cycle, adjusted for local scarcity - a litre used in a water-stressed region counts more heavily than one used somewhere abundant. The biggest single share for most rinse-off cosmetics is the hot water consumers use during application. Irrigated agricultural ingredients and water-intensive ingredient manufacturing also contribute meaningfully.

Freshwater eutrophication - Over-enrichment of rivers, lakes, and groundwater with phosphorus, which triggers algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and fish die-offs in inland waters. Cosmetic supply chains contribute mainly through agricultural fertiliser run-off from ingredient crops, and to a lesser extent through phosphorus-containing detergents and surfactants reaching wastewater.

Marine eutrophication - The same phenomenon in coastal and ocean waters, driven primarily by nitrogen rather than phosphorus. Excess nitrogen reaches the sea via rivers carrying fertiliser run-off and via airborne nitrogen-oxide emissions. The biggest cosmetic-related sources are nitrogen-based fertilisers used to grow plant ingredients.

This group measures pressures on terrestrial ecosystems: how much land the supply chain occupies, how that land is treated, and how chemical fallout affects soils far beyond the immediate supply chain. For cosmetics, agriculture for plant-derived ingredients is the dominant driver.

Land use - The area of land occupied or transformed to produce the product, weighted by ecosystem quality and time of occupation. Tropical crops common in cosmetics - palm, coconut, vanilla, shea - tend to carry higher impact because their cultivation can replace biodiverse forest. The indicator captures both how much land and what kind of land.

Terrestrial eutrophication - Nitrogen deposition onto soils, mostly from agricultural fertiliser application and from combustion-related nitrogen oxides falling out of the air. Excess nitrogen disrupts soil chemistry, favours a small number of fast-growing plant species, and reduces biodiversity in surrounding ecosystems - even where no fertiliser was directly applied.

Acidification - "Acid rain": sulphur and nitrogen oxides released into the air combine with moisture to form acids that fall on soils, forests, and freshwater systems. Effects include leaf injury, declining tree growth, and the slow acidification of lakes. The dominant cosmetic-supply-chain sources are fossil-fuel combustion in transport, manufacturing, and electricity generation.

This group measures harm to people and freshwater life from chemicals and emissions released across the product's life cycle. Importantly, it covers indirect impacts - emissions to air, soil, and water during production and use - not the direct safety of the product on skin, which is governed separately by cosmetic safety regulation.

Human toxicity (cancer) - Estimated long-term cancer risk to people exposed to substances emitted across the product's life cycle, modelled across air, soil, and water pathways. Industrial processes, energy generation, and certain agricultural inputs are the main contributors. The indicator is comparative - it doesn't predict illness in any individual, but it lets two products be ranked against each other on this dimension.

Human toxicity (non-cancer) - The equivalent measure for non-cancer health effects: organ damage, neurological effects, and reproductive harm. Sources mirror the cancer indicator - emissions during manufacturing, energy, and agriculture - but the underlying toxicological models are different, which is why PEF treats the two separately.

Freshwater ecotoxicity - Harm to plants, invertebrates, and fish in rivers and lakes from chemicals reaching freshwater systems. Sources include pesticide use on ingredient crops, trace metals from industrial processes, and chemical residues in wastewater. For rinse-off cosmetics, this can be a meaningful share of the overall footprint because of the volume of product that ends up in wastewater.

Ionizing radiation - Exposure to human health from radioactive substances released across the life cycle. In practice, this is almost entirely driven by the electricity mix used in manufacturing - countries with more nuclear power in their grid carry higher impact here, even though nuclear's other indicators (climate, particulate matter) tend to be very low. It's a small but real piece of the overall picture.

How EcoBeautyScore measures environmental impact

The full journey from product to score

Our Goal

Methodology built around the complete product lifecycle

The 16 planetary impacts we measure