HAPPI: Can you share with us some of your experiences in sustainability and what drew you to a company like Genomatica? 
 
Sasha Calder: I’ve been lucky to work in the sustainability impact space for almost ten years, including serving as director of sustainability at Beautycounter where I led responsible sourcing, sustainable packaging and climate justice for the clean beauty brand.
 
As a huge sustainability nerd who is committed to doing what I can to ensure our planet is habitable, I was attracted to Genomatica because they’re focusing on creating sustainable and scalable solutions in the market, today. 
 
Genomatica is helping companies to remake everyday products and materials with more sustainable ingredients, made from renewable sources like plants rather than fossil fuels. Genomatica's first commercial products and partnerships with leading industrial firms and brands are already having a high impact across many industries.
 
Looking at the ever-evolving climate science and the limited amount of time for effective change, we have to urgently take climate action. I want to ensure I’m using my time to help scale solutions as quickly as possible across markets (e.g., beauty, home care, automotive, packaging, etc.). So many of the products we use every day are produced by conventional petrochemical processes: these include the plastics in your car, the nylon in your carpet and the moisturizer in your shampoo. In order to deliver on our critical climate goals, we need more sustainable solutions now, and Genomatica is delivering.
 
HAPPI: What do you think is the single most popular misconception about what it means to be a sustainable brand? 
 
Calder: Some brands mistakenly think they can simply check one box and they’re “sustainable.” But in truth, there’s no set definition for what it means to be a sustainable brand. We’ve seen many companies branding themselves as sustainable without looking under the hood of their business to really understand where and how they can impact the people making their products and how those products impact the planet.
 
However, consumers are looking to support brands that can substantiate their sustainability efforts. Now more than ever, consumers are voting with their wallets, and they're just as willing to punish a brand as they are to purchase a brand based on its sustainability performance. This is more than a logo or slogan; consumers want to see science-driven data or substantiated storytelling to build their confidence that a product is made more responsibly than its competitors. 
 
HAPPI: What would you say are the greatest challenges that personal care brands face when trying to become more sustainable? 
 
Calder: For brands just getting started, it can feel overwhelming to understand where they can have the biggest impact. In order to think strategically about sustainability, and how it can drive value for your business, it’s important to prioritize the business areas that are impacting the environment and people. Once you prioritize which of these matters most to you and your business partners (e.g., consumers, business partners, investors, NGOs, etc.), it’s easier to make strategic decisions that will have a greater impact on both your business and the planet. 
 
Beauty supply chains are notorious for being secretive and complex, so I recommend finding partners — whether they are like-minded brands or suppliers — to collaborate with and to share best practices. The good news is that collaboration in the beauty industry is on the rise. As brands see the precompetitive advantages of collaboration, more are working together to change how their products are made.
 
Today's consumers are also becoming increasingly aware of greenwashing, so it’s important to seek out partners who ground their work in research and data. For example, if you’re looking to reduce your environmental impacts, make sure you’re comparing companies that can showcase the reduction of their footprint through tools like a life cycle assessment (LCA), a systematic study that compares the environmental impact of a company’s production process (for ingredients, packaging, etc.).
 
HAPPI: How can a life cycle assessment help with a brand’s sustainability efforts?
 
Calder: At Genomatica, we worked with a trusted third party to carry out a peer-reviewed life cycle assessment (LCA) ISO 14044 for our ingredient, Brontide® natural butylene glycol. The results of this study showed that our fermentation-based process technology reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 51% compared to conventional production. This data not only helped us substantiate and clearly communicate our ingredient’s lifecycle impact and overall sustainability attributes to customers but also provided the foundation of our sustainability impact calculator — an interactive, online calculator that helps brands predict their environmental footprint savings when replacing petroleum-derived butylene glycol with Brontide® natural butylene glycol. 
 
Grounding your decisions in data allows you to find more value-aligned suppliers and build a resilient business model while reducing your brands’ risk exposure. 
 
HAPPI: That is really great advice. But what if it still feels like a daunting task?
 
Calder: Remember, you don’t have to do it all now, and you don’t need to do it alone. Prioritize what matters most to your brand and focus on where you will have the biggest impact. Also, be sure to look for partners and suppliers who can help with the heavy lifting and provide solutions that will help you refine, achieve, and advance your sustainability goals. 
 
A great place to start is understanding if your formulas’ ingredients are coming from fossil fuels and replacing these with more sustainable alternatives. Another option is to think about how you can design your packaging more sustainably and how your supply chains can more positively impact the workers that bring your products to life. 
 
Regardless of where your brand chooses to start, sustainability is a journey that continues to evolve as the needs of our planet and people grow and change. If you’re looking to deepen your brand’s commitment to sustainability, please feel free to reach out, and I’d be happy to connect you with working groups in sustainable packaging, responsible sourcing and formulation, and climate justice action.