S.Korean oil refiner GS Caltex accelerates advance into cosmetics biz

GS Caltex Corp., South Korea’s second-largest oil refiner, is expediting its advance into the cosmetics industry as part of its green transformation to reduce the use of carbon-based raw materials.

The Korean company announced on Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to forge a strategic partnership with L’Oréal Group to jointly develop biomaterials-based ingredients for cosmetics and supply them to the French cosmetics behemoth.  

The latest agreement is expected to accelerate GS Caltex’s green push to protect the environment and boost value through its contribution to a circular economy, aiming to circulate resources and energy in eco-friendly ways with its oil refining expertise.

“GS Caltex hopes to reinforce its leadership in environment production moves with its R&D and production capabilities through its partnership with L’Oréal, which has been taking various actions to mitigate climate change,” said Hur Sae-hong, GS Caltex's chief executive officer.

Barbara Lavernos, deputy chief executive officer at L’Oréal in charge of Research, Innovation and Technology, also expressed high expectations that their cooperation would lead them to pioneer the future of the beauty industry through “sustainable innovation.”

BIOMATERIALS FOR COSMETICS

In 2019, GS Caltex developed a 100% bio-based production process that is used to produce its all-natural 2,3-Butaneodiol (2,3-BDO) made from non-GMO biomass and microorganism.

The eco-friendly 2,3-BDO has been supplied as an ingredient in cosmetics under the brand name GreenDiol.

It has received Ecocert COSMOS certification, the France-based European organic cosmetic standard, the Korea Agency of Vegan Certification and Services’ vegan certification and USDA Certified Biobased Product certification.

The Korean refiner -- a 50-50 joint venture between US energy company Chevron Corp. and Korea’s GS Energy Corp., a GS Holdings subsidiary -- has jumped into the cosmetics industry with the green ingredient as part of its efforts to build a white biotechnology value chain, covering biodiesel, bio-marine fuels, bio-jet fuels and biochemicals under its green transformation initiative to promote carbon reduction in existing businesses and foster new low-carbon businesses.

The company is striving to contribute to a circular economy, an economic system that minimizes the use of resource input, waste, pollution and carbon emissions.

Under the brand name of GS Caltex Energy Plus Eco, it is seeking to circulate resources and energy by upcycling waste plastic into high-quality products, replacing carbon-based raw materials with biomaterials and expanding the flow of energy in daily life through its oil refining expertise.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.