At a press conference held on September 25, 2025, Cosmébio, Bureau Veritas, Cosmécert, and Ecocert joined forces to warn against the excesses of greenwashing and reiterate the need for a clear and demanding framework for beauty products. In this context, the COSMOS standard is evolving to make the calculation of the percentage of organic ingredients “more transparent and more representative of the reality of the formulas,” a change that aims to better promote truly committed products and facilitate comparison between certified references.
Long perceived as a mere marketing issue, greenwashing is now becoming a threat to public health and the environment, according to long-standing players in the organic cosmetics industry.
“Greenwashing is not just commercial deception: it is also a health hazard,” warns Nicolas Bertrand, Executive Director of Cosmébio.
The evolution of COSMOS
The COSMOS standard now covers more than 34,000 finished products and 24,000 ingredients.
Founded by independent associations and organizations, it is based on regular audits, a strict blacklist (excluding parabens, PFAS, silicones, microplastics, GMOs, etc.) and complete traceability, from the plant to the finished product.
Its new version, COSMOS V4.2, introduces a change in the method used to calculate the percentage of organic ingredients. From now on, water and minerals (which are by nature non-certifiable) are excluded from the calculation.
And this is no small change: a cream containing 60% water and 5% minerals will, with an identical formula, be labeled as containing 20% to 57% organic ingredients according to the new method.
“This approach makes the percentage of organic ingredients more representative of the actual composition of formulas, facilitates comparison between products, and promotes the most committed brands. Certification is not a marketing option, …
