Knowledge sharing: Shiseido the first cosmetic company to join sustainable tech sharing platform WIPO GREEN

The Japanese cosmetics company recently released its second global report on its sustainability progress after laying out its medium-to-long-term targets in its first report last year.

Among its updates, the beauty giant acknowledged that it had begun licensing its environmental technologies through WIPO GREEN.

Established in 2013, WIPO GREEN is an international technology exchange platform established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Shisiedo was among the 19 new partners that joined WIPO GREEN in 2020.

According to Shiseido and WIPO GREEN, it is the first cosmetics company among the list of 127 partners, including multinational names such as IBM, Siemens, General Electric and Canon.

Organisations that have joined WIPO GREEN also included research institutions, universities, trade associations and national IP agencies.

The company said it joined the programme as it has observed that more companies are looking to one another for shared solutions rather than monopolising environment-related technology.

According to WIPO GREEN’s 2020 review, Shiseido was among its most active partners, uploading 20 of its technologies to the platform, behind fellow Japanese companies Fujitsu Limited, Toyota Industries Corporation and Konica Minolta.

These included technologies that can achieve excellent cleaning and water conservation during rinsing, which can be applied mainly to cleansing and hair care products.

Additionally, it also shared technology that concentrates and reduce energy consumption for manufacturing and transportation.

Shiseido believes that the technologies it has shared can contribute to tackling environmental issues such as drought and CO2 emissions.

Green innovation

As part of its target to achieve 100% sustainable packaging by 2025, Shiseido has been developing alternative plastics, biomaterials with low environmental impact, as well as packaging that biodegrades naturally.

In 2020, SHISEIDO ​launched a new type of sustainable packaging in collaboration with Japanese material manufacturer KANEKA.

Composed of a 100% biodegradable polymer the new material is unlike conventional biomass materials as it is biosynthesised within the cells of microorganisms.

As such, the compact packaging can biodegrade on land and sea as well, claims Shiseido.

The company believes that this material had the potential to overcome the issue of marine waste.

Shiseido used this technology to develop its Aquagel Lip Palette range, which was first launched in its Ginza flagship last November.

As a lip palette, the firm was able to reduce material use by 80% as compared to making five individual lipsticks.