Best practices
How cosmetic brands can comply with the EU Green Claims Directive using automated LCA
Key takeaways
The EU Green Claims Directive requires cosmetic brands to back sustainability claims with scientific evidence
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most accepted methodology to validate environmental impact
Manual LCAs are too slow and costly to cover full product lines
Devera automates LCA using AI, reducing cost and time drastically while ensuring full regulatory compliance
Brands can embed verified Eco-scores into product pages, building trust and transparency with consumers
Green claims in cosmetics are under scrutiny
In the beauty and personal care industry, claims like eco, natural, or green have become standard marketing language. But for regulators—and increasingly for consumers—these words are starting to lose meaning if they aren’t backed by real data.
The EU’s Green Claims Directive is set to change this. Once in effect, brands will be required to justify any environmental claim with robust, science-based evidence. That means lifecycle data. That means comparability. And that, for many cosmetic companies, means rethinking how sustainability is measured and communicated.
LCA: the gold standard for sustainability claims
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most widely recognized method to evaluate the environmental impact of a product across its entire lifecycle, from raw materials and manufacturing to packaging, transport, usage and end-of-life.
For cosmetics, this includes a wide range of variables:
Ingredient sourcing (agriculture, chemical synthesis, water usage)
Packaging materials and formats (glass, PET, aluminum, mixed)
Manufacturing energy and by-products
Distribution logistics (air freight, local delivery, etc.)
How the product is used and disposed (rinse-off vs leave-on, recyclability, etc.)
Running an LCA manually on even a single product involves weeks of work, coordination with multiple teams and experts, and often a hefty invoice from a consultancy firm.
So how do you scale this across 20, 50 or 100 products and update results every year?
Devera automates the LCA process for cosmetics
That’s where Devera comes in. We use AI to automate Life Cycle Assessments for cosmetic products, reducing time and cost by up to 90%, while maintaining full compliance with ISO 14040/44, ISO 14067 and the GHG Protocol.
Here’s how it works:
Automatic data extraction: We pull product data from your website, documents and images. This includes ingredient lists, packaging details, manufacturing locations, certifications and logistics.
AI-powered footprint calculation: Our system cross-checks your real product data with the template and calculates a complete carbon footprint using trusted databases like Ecoinvent and OpenLCA.
Eco-score generation: The final result includes a product-specific CO₂ value (in kg CO₂ eq), a visual Eco-score, and a benchmark against similar market products based on 10,000+ Monte Carlo simulations.
Ready-to-use outputs: A downloadable, traceable LCA report and a widget for your e-commerce site so you can display impact transparently—just like L'Oréal or Garnier already do.
Learn more about our solution for cosmetic brands.
Compliance built-in: from Green Claims to real competitive edge
Unlike other tools or consultancies, Devera was designed from day one to ensure full compliance with the EU’s sustainability regulation.
Traceability: Every emission factor and data point is linked to a source
Standardization: We follow the ISO framework and industry PCRs for cosmetics
Transparency: Reports are easy to read, easy to audit, and easy to share with stakeholders or certifiers
Benchmarking: We help you compare against your market so you can justify relative claims like “lower impact” or “more sustainable than alternatives”
And all of this can be done at scale, even for brands with hundreds of SKUs or fast-changing seasonal products.
Show your footprint, build trust
More than 87% of consumers say they look for sustainability information when buying cosmetics. The new generation of beauty buyers is not just looking for pretty packaging, they want proof that what they’re using is not harming the planet.
With Devera, you can:
Highlight the most sustainable products in your catalog
Embed a seal or sustainability score directly into your product page
Share verifiable impact data with B2B clients, investors or certifiers
Run simulations to test future product versions or reformulations
Track year-over-year progress in reducing emissions
Explore our full sustainable cosmetic guide.
From “green” claims to real, measurable impact
The Green Claims Directive isn’t just a legal hurdle—it’s a wake-up call. A chance to rethink how the beauty industry communicates sustainability, moving from generic storytelling to credible, measurable impact.
Devera makes it possible. Fast. Affordable. Reliable. Scalable.
Decode your product's footprint. Decide with data. Decarbonize with confidence.
