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In 2025, botanical extracts represent around 32.6% of the natural cosmetics
market1, within a natural ingredients sector valued at over USD 60 billion2.
Behind those numbers sits an agricultural reality the cosmetic industry didn't
create but cannot ignore: soils losing fertility year after year, water cycles
disrupted by climate volatility, biodiversity erosion, and increasingly erratic
harvests.
These pressures aren't unique to cosmetics. They are shared with food,
pharmaceuticals, textiles, and every industry that depends on agricultural and
wild-harvested raw materials. But cosmetics participate, at their scale, in the
equation. Regenerative agriculture, the broad shift toward farming practices
that actively restore rather than deplete, is becoming a structural answer that
goes far beyond our industry. It is becoming a norm for everyone who relies
on biomass. And it deserves to.
Two responsibilities sit at the heart of this transition. Ingredient suppliers decide how sourcing models are built: what is grown, how, where, and at what ecological cost. Brands decide what to specify and what to pay for, and
therefore which models scale. Neither shifts the system alone. Both are
accountable.
Three regeneration levers are emerging in the cosmetic ingredient pipeline. The most credible industry players combine all three.
The term "regenerative agriculture" covers a range of practices designed to
actively restore soil fertility, biodiversity, and water cycles, rather than simply
minimize harm. For cosmetic raw materials, several of these practices are now
being structured into ingredient sourcing and backed by recognized
certifications.
A few that matter:
International certifications structure this ecosystem of practices. ROC
(Regenerative Organic Certified) and Fair for Life now back ingredients like
Expanscience's 2025 Tulsinity Bio launch, a tulsi sourced in India6.
The trade-offs are real. These models are slow to scale and harder to
industrialize than conventional agriculture. They reward patience over volume.
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According to industry market analyses, around 21% of new natural cosmetic
launches in 2024 incorporated an upcycled ingredient7. The model has
clearly moved from niche to mainstream. The principle is simple: instead of opening new agricultural surfaces, capture the value already present in by-
products of food, agriculture, beverage, or pharmaceutical industries.
Two suppliers illustrate how mature this can be: Bionap has built its identity around this approach. OPUNTIA BIOCOMPLEX™ SH is derived from prickly pear cladodes, historically considered an invasive waste by Sicilian farmers. ACTRISAVE™ combines prickly pear flowers with black rice. FLAVOSLIM™ valorizes Italian bergamot juice by-products. Each supply chain is organic-certified, integrated with local agriculture, and processed under zero-waste extraction8.
The Upcycled Beauty Company built an entire range from agro-industrial
leftovers: Barley TONIQ™ from brewery spent grain, Hemp NECTA™ from
hemp processing, raspberry seeds, gin distillate. They sell with no minimum
order quantities, a detail that makes the model genuinely accessible to indie
brands and not just industry giants9.
The trade-offs are technical, not ideological. By-product feedstocks can vary in
composition depending on the upstream industry, and extraction processes
must be adapted to a starting material originally designed for a different use. But the carbon, land, and water savings are substantial. In many cases, the by-
product also carries molecules that the primary process simply didn't target, opening access to genuinely new actives without expanding cultivation.
Some species are biologically built to fit a regenerative model. Choosing them
well, from the start of a formulation brief, is the simplest and most underrated
lever:
The French brand Eclo, in partnership with the Pour une Agriculture du Vivant
association, built its color cosmetics range around three of these: Breton hemp, rye from Haute-Loire, and algae, chosen specifically because they regenerate the soils (and seabeds) they grow in10. It's a brand-side signal, but it tells suppliers exactly where formulation briefs are heading. Soil benefit is becoming a sourcing criteria, not just a performance one.
There is no single answer to regeneration. Regenerative agriculture, upcycling,
and intelligent plant selection are not competing visions. They are complementary tools, and the most credible industry players combine several of them. Expanscience pairs conservation agriculture with upcycling. Bionap pairs upcycling with intelligent plant choice. The best sourcing models of the coming decade will pair all three, and will add precision indoor farming, plant cell culture, or biotech fermentation where it makes sense.
For sourcing teams, formulators, and brand developers, the question is no
longer "is this ingredient regenerative?". Too binary, too easy to greenwash.
The right question is: how many regenerative levers does this supply chain
activate, and can I push for one more? That's the bar worth holding. And it's a
bar the cosmetic industry has both the leverage and the responsibility to keep
raising, alongside every other sector that depends on the same agricultural
systems.
Cosmetic Science Consultant and Founder of Beauty Seedz®
LinkedIn | Site Web
References:
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Covalo.