As the world leader in beauty, L’Oréal’s involvement provides access to the $571.10B beauty and personal care market, bringing the collective member revenue to $100B+ with products that reach billions of people.

With additional founding members Unilever and Kao Corporation, the Geno-led venture is committed to meet growing demand for sustainable ingredients using biotechnology to improve the environmental profile of popular products and meet consumer demand for more traceable supply chains.

Geno will deploy its proven biotechnology platform, using proprietary engineered microorganisms to ferment plant sugars that produce ingredients to make sustainable surfactants. These new ingredients will be used in a range of L’Oréal’s products, marking an essential step towards L’Oréal’s goals of 100% eco-designed formulas that respect the diversity of aquatic ecosystems and 95% of ingredients from renewable plant-based sources or abundant minerals by 2030.

As part of its sustainability program, L’Oréal for the Future, the beauty leader has placed an increased focus on partnering with biotechnology innovators with a proven track record, like Geno, to explore, develop and manufacture more sustainable ingredients for the everyday products the world relies on.

“Welcoming L’Oréal to this incredible team of global brand heavyweights signifies just how important and urgent the need is for traceable, resilient and sustainable materials, at scale. L’Oréal’s commitment further validates Geno’s ability to deliver at scale and accelerates our journey toward reducing global carbon emissions by over 100 million tons in the upcoming years by targeting large-scale material markets. We’re energized to help L’Oréal achieve its bold 2030 goals of incorporating 95% bio-based ingredients for formulas and using packaging materials that are traceable and from sustainable sources. This partnership will further catapult our venture’s mission to the global scale required to meet strong market demand for sustainable products”, says Christophe Schilling, Chief Executive Officer for Geno.

Geno (Genomatica, Inc.) is developing and scaling sustainable materials derived from plant- or waste-based feedstocks instead of fossil fuels.

Geno’s technology, built over the last 20 years, now commercializes and scales sustainable alternatives to commonly used ingredients and materials across several industries including beauty, apparel, automotive, home and personal care, packaging and functional foods and beverages.

Geno is partnering with world-leading brands including Aquafil, Asahi Kasei, lululemon, Unilever, Kao and L’Oréal.