Written, Edited, and Designed by: Dana Y.
Perfume is widely used all over the world, whether it’s when you’re preparing for a date, doing a quick spritz before you head out for work, or adding a pleasant, fragrant whiff to your house. However, have you ever thought about the environmental impacts of perfume and the effect it has on your carbon footprint?
What does perfume do to the environment?
Traditionally, perfume is created with ethanol, which produces a fragrance when combined with water and fragrance oil. Ethanol is inexpensive, neutral-smelling, and evaporates quickly when warmed by skin, making it the ideal carrier for fragrance cells.
However, the process of making ethanol from starch-based plants is energy intensive and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Ultimately, this is detrimental to the environment as it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and therefore global warming.
Manufacturers have begun to develop novel, environmentally-friendly perfumes with less of a carbon footprint than traditional brands.
Coty
One of these brands is Coty, or “the Company,” a beauty company that uses carbon-captured ethanol as a base for their perfumes. Coty has partnered with the biotech company LanzaTech to develop CarbonSmart™ alcohol, which captures carbon from industrial emissions and transforms it into alcohol pure enough to be used in perfumes. This process uses less water and agricultural land compared to that of traditional perfumes, in turn limiting Coty’s impact on biodiversity.
On April 1, 2023, Coty released “Where My Heart Beats Eau de Parfum,” the first globally distributed fragrance manufactured using alcohol from 100% recycled carbon emissions. The airy and floral fragrance carrying notes of white peony accord, violet leaves accord, and heart musk brings with it the enchanting feeling of spring.
The future of the perfume industry
Coty should serve as inspiration for other companies in the perfume industry, as they too can attempt to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and overall environmental impact by turning to cleaner methods of developing fragrances.
As consumers, we can also consider switching to sustainable perfumes such as Coty instead of purchasing mass-produced ones. Even though this might seem like it would have little overall effect in the long run, adopting environmentally-friendly habits would help us advance at least one step forward in our fight against global warming and climate change.
If we start from small places and continue to make smarter, cleaner choices, our world will gradually change for the better.
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