Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) has become a hot topic in recent years with companies increasingly focusing on the “E", environmental issues, and a majority of business professionals worldwide (54%) ranking them as the most important aspect in sustainability.
According to Euromonitor International’s most recent research, making informed sustainability-specific decisions is critical to business success. Every industry has its own environmental challenges and opportunities depending on the markets they source from, manufacture and sell their products. Euromonitor International’s solutions provide multi-dimensional and cross-country comparable frameworks and insights, allowing businesses to identify ESG trends and priorities, assess consumer sentiment and stay ahead of the competition.
Waterless beauty opportunities to combat water scarcity
Global concern over water scarcity has been intensifying and will remain among the top ten environmental priorities in the next five years. Over 56% of professionals are reporting that their companies plan to invest in water-related initiatives between 2022 and 2027, compared to 39.3% of professionals in 2019, and over 44% of consumers are aiming to use less water to have a positive impact on the planet (Voice of the Consumers Lifestyles survey, 2021).
Source: Euromonitor International Voice of the Industry: Sustainability Survey (fielded in February 2022 n=926)
The beauty and personal care industry is often listed among the top contributors to water use, water pollution and wastewater. In 2020, the industry consumed 10.4 million tonnes of water globally, it is a key ingredient in its products. Hair care and bath and shower categories are responsible for over half of the total water used in beauty and personal care product formulations.
With water security escalating in the corporate sustainability agenda, there is an increasing pressure for beauty and personal care companies to comply with regulatory standards and take a proactive approach to:
- Prioritise markets for water scarcity solutions
- Adapt product portfolios to address the needs of consumer who are looking for waterless and water saving solutions
- Identify water related sustainability initiatives among industry peers and evaluate the expected benefits of their own activities for stakeholders.
Combining Euromonitor International’s environmental metrics with consumer survey and stock-keeping unit (SKU-level) data from the Sustainable Living Claims Tracker, companies can identify markets that are in need of water saving solutions and offer the best opportunities for products with waterless / water saving claims.
Sources: Euromonitor International’s Sustainable Living Claims Tracker; Voice of the Industry: Sustainability Survey (fielded in June 2021 n=1,473); Environmental Sustainability Index
- Despite ranking lowest in relation to water scarcity, Canada has relatively low water security because rising global temperatures are melting glaciers, river flows are increasingly unpredictable and warming lakes are battling toxic algae. The number of SKUs with waterless and water saving attributes is large in Canada, however, the number of consumers willing to reduce the use of water is below global average, signalling the need for the companies to focus their efforts on communication to educate and increase demand from consumers.
- Brazil is ranked low in terms of water scarcity and has the highest demand for products with waterless and water saving attributes, however, the small size of the bubble indicates that the offerings of such products in the market are low.
- Highly dependent on increasingly expensive desalinisation technologies, the UAE is among the countries with the highest water scarcity. Despite this, the number of products with water saving and waterless attributes and the consumer demand is extremely low, offering long-term opportunities for companies willing to launch more beauty and personal care products addressing water scarcity concerns alongside consumer education.
- The immediate opportunities for product with waterless and water saving attributes lie in Mexico, Turkey, Spain, and South Africa, where the need from consumers and water scarcity is high and the number of offerings is still quite low.
Data-driven stories and pressure-tested answers to support your ESG needs
By using global and regional expert networks in combination with our tried and tested methodologies, Euromonitor International helps clients to identify, compare and prioritise the most important ESG issues across countries, understand where consumers' concerns for ESG issues are high and compare how other companies use product claims to communicate their approach to ESG initiatives.
Learn more
To allow you spot ESG trends and opportunities, Euromonitor International’s Environmental Sustainability Dashboard with proprietary Environmental Sustainability Index visually displays 650 environmental indicators across 210 countries, allowing users to interact with data.
Euromonitor International’s Sustainable Living Claims Tracker monitors millions of SKUs sold online, including product claims and other attributes related to sustainability, across 40 countries, 1,500 online retailers and 11 consumer goods industries to help you unlock key strategic and tactical insights with its standardised online product coverage.
Euromonitor International’s Voice of the Industry Sustainability Survey is an annual online survey that tracks the views of over 1,500 industry professionals across FMCG industries on the topic of sustainability over time to allow you understanding competitors' strategies and industry sustainability trends.
For more information about sustainability please get in touch via email sustainability@euromonitor.com.