Personal Care Products

Material Composition Assumptions

The default bill of materials for a representative personal care product (approximately 300 ml bottled liquid product such as shampoo or body wash) includes:

• Product formulation: Water (60-80%), surfactants (sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine), conditioning agents, preservatives, fragrances, colorants — approximately 300 g per unit
• Primary packaging: HDPE or PET bottle (25-40 g), PP cap (5-8 g), label (1-2 g) — approximately 35 g per unit
• Secondary packaging: Corrugated cardboard outer case (shared across 12-24 units) — approximately 15 g allocated per unit
• Chemical feedstocks: Petroleum-derived surfactants and oleochemicals (palm kernel oil, coconut oil derivatives) represent the highest-intensity ingredients by mass

The CCI score of 3.5 kgCO2e per kg represents the manufactured product including primary packaging, covering cradle-to-gate emissions. The use-phase contribution (consumer hot water heating) is substantial but excluded from the manufacturing-focused CCI score, consistent with the methodology applied to other product categories.

Manufacturing Geography

The default manufacturing region is the EU, with significant production also in China and the USA.

• Grid intensity: 300 gCO2e/kWh (IEA 2024 estimate for EU average). This is used to calculate Scope 2 emissions from factory electricity for mixing, heating, cooling, and filling operations.
• Rationale: Major personal care manufacturers (L’Oreal, Unilever, P&G, Henkel) operate production facilities across Europe, North America, and Asia. The EU is used as the conservative default given its dominant share of premium product manufacturing. Chinese contract manufacturing would increase the Scope 2 component.

L’Oreal reports using its SPOT (Sustainable Product Optimization Tool) for LCA across all product categories, incorporating 14 environmental impact indicators per ISO 14040.

Regional Variation

Region	Grid Intensity	Estimated Score Adjustment
EU average	~300 gCO2e/kWh	Baseline (default)
USA average	~390 gCO2e/kWh	+30% on Scope 2 (adds ~0.15 kgCO2e)
China average	~565 gCO2e/kWh	+88% on Scope 2 (adds ~0.44 kgCO2e)
India	~700 gCO2e/kWh	+133% on Scope 2 (adds ~0.67 kgCO2e)
Nordic (Sweden/Norway)	~30 gCO2e/kWh	-90% on Scope 2 (saves ~0.45 kgCO2e)

Note: Scope 2 represents approximately 14% of the total footprint. Regional grid variation has a moderate effect because Scope 3 upstream emissions (chemical synthesis and packaging materials) dominate.

Provenance Override Guidance

A supplier or manufacturer may override the default CCI score by submitting:

1. Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) or Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) certified by an accredited third party per ISO 14067 or the EU PEF methodology.
2. Ingredient-level emission factors from verified databases (Ecoinvent, GaBi) for key chemical feedstocks.
3. Packaging material specifications including recycled content percentage and material weight.
4. Factory energy data including renewable energy certificates (RECs) or power purchase agreements (PPAs).

L’Oreal’s PIL methodology and Unilever’s product environmental footprint disclosures qualify as valid provenance overrides.

Methodology Notes

• CCI score of 3.5 kgCO2e per kg represents the cradle-to-gate manufacturing footprint of a typical bottled personal care product. This is a weighted estimate derived from packaging LCA data (CarbonBright reports 1.25 kgCO2e for a ~350 ml shampoo unit) scaled to per-kg basis and adjusted upward to account for chemical ingredient synthesis.
• Scope breakdown: Scope 3 dominates at 77% (2.7 kgCO2e/kg), driven by chemical feedstock production and packaging materials. Scope 2 (factory electricity) is 14% (0.5 kgCO2e/kg). Scope 1 (direct combustion for heating and steam generation in mixing processes) is 9% (0.3 kgCO2e/kg).
• Functional unit: One kilogram of manufactured personal care product including primary packaging, cradle-to-gate.
• Use-phase exclusion: The Carbon Trust reports that 59% of beauty product lifecycle emissions come from consumer hot water use. This use-phase contribution is excluded from the CCI score to maintain consistency with the manufacturing-focused methodology.
• Data gaps: Significant variability exists across product types (bar soap vs. liquid shampoo vs. aerosol deodorant). The score represents a mid-range liquid product. Concentrated or solid formulations may have substantially lower per-kg footprints.
• Packaging dominance: For dilute liquid products, packaging can represent 30-50% of cradle-to-gate emissions, making lightweighting and recycled content critical levers.