--- description: Find out why Jean-Baptiste Massignon is on TIME's 2025 list of the 100 most influential leaders driving business climate action. title: Jean-Baptiste Massignon: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d219b7759305d7e/6998cb0107a30d0a1a77d763/Catalyst-Jean-Baptiste-Massignon.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2025 # Jean-Baptiste Massignon Managing Director, EcoBeautyScore Association by Jean-Baptiste Massignon  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Courtesy Photo) _Jean-Baptiste Massignon is the managing director of the_ [_EcoBeautyScore Association_](https://www.ecobeautyscore.com/ "undefined")_, which was formed in 2022 by a consortium of major beauty companies, including L’Oréal and Unilever, to make the beauty sector more sustainable and transparent. Under Massignon’s leadership, the nonprofit collaborated with more than 70 stakeholders—from brands to environmental experts—to create the first consumer-facing, industry-wide, science-based environmental scoring system for cosmetics. The new tool was officially_ [_unveiled_](https://www.ecobeautyscore.com/app/uploads/2025/03/ENG-EcoBeautyScore-press-release-Mar-2025-VF.pdf "undefined") _in March and has been adopted by major brands including Neutrogena, Nivea, and Garnier._ **What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?** The most important step governments can take is to set science-based, harmonized standards for measuring environmental impact, and make them consistent across industries. Without shared rules of the game, sustainability policies or actions risk becoming fragmented, opaque, and vulnerable to greenwashing. Clear and transparent standards empower businesses to act with confidence, enable consumers to make informed choices, and accelerate investment toward solutions that truly reduce emissions and protect nature. I strongly believe that consistent standards will encourage data harmonization, which is key for reducing the environmental footprint of products and services. **What’s one sustainability effort you personally will try to adopt in the next year?** This is a very relevant question we have to ask ourselves daily. It is all too easy to consider that sustainability is only systemic and should result from regulatory, collective, or corporate action and that whatever one is doing on a personal level doesn't move the needle. This is wrong. We are all foot-soldiers in this fight. As for me, I sold my (third-hand) car 25 years ago and have lived car-free since then, which I admit, is not too tough for an urban dweller. More demanding is reducing the climate impact of daily routines, starting with what I eat. I have cut out most processed food but am still working on reducing consumption of meat and dairy products such as cheeses, which is a big ask for a Frenchman! I also focus on cutting water and energy use. In cosmetics, we see that the consumer use phase for rinse-off products—especially heating water—can account for the majority of a product’s footprint. We all have a part to play. Set an example, share good practices. We advocate for systemic commitments, but the small, consistent choices that add up across millions of households matter. **What is a climate solution that isn't getting the attention or funding it deserves?** Too many solutions today focus narrowly on carbon, when what we truly need are holistic approaches that consider the full environmental footprint, including biodiversity, water use, soil health, and end-of-life impacts. In the cosmetics industry, for example, a “low-carbon” ingredient may still contribute to deforestation, or a “natural” product may strain scarce water resources. We need more investment in tools and innovations that measure and reduce impacts across the entire lifecycle. Only by looking beyond carbon can we build solutions that are genuinely sustainable for the planet **What gives you hope about the future of the planet?** What gives me hope is the constant shift in consumer expectations and habits. Around the world, people increasingly demand transparency, honesty, and accountability from brands and governments and by and large they are getting their act together. Look at the growth of EV sales and the impact of product scorings (albeit we still see airline mileage increasing and fast fashion growing market share, etc.). This social pressure is powerful. It creates a positive feedback loop where brands or leaders who boldly act on climate are rewarded with trust and loyalty. If we can meet that demand with credible, science-based action, I believe we can accelerate change faster than many imagine. **If you could stand up and talk to world leaders at the next COP, what would you say?** (i) Trust science, (ii) listen to mother nature, and (iii) admit that this is a win-win or a lose-lose fight. It’s easier to disagree, to slow, to veto every proposal, but this is losing sight of the bigger picture. The climate crisis is global, continuous, and its consequences are largely irreversible—already driving desertification, ocean change, and biodiversity loss worldwide. You treasure what you measure. Therefore, it is key to agree on how to measure impacts and progress. Yet, varying standards, divergent policies, and competing definitions of sustainability have not been harmonized or even stabilized. This confuses citizens, slows innovation, and wastes precious time. We need leaders to align on science-based frameworks for measuring and reducing environmental impact. With common rules, businesses and consumers will deliver the scale of change we urgently need. So, I say to the global leaders at COP: Foster real collaboration, and deliver not just words but reliable, consistent data and measurement systems. After all, if we can’t even agree on how to measure the climate and nature crisis, how can we hope to solve it? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326612/jean-baptiste-massignon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326612/jean-baptiste-massignon/"},"headline":"Jean-Baptiste Massignon","datePublished":"2025-10-30T11:30:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:01:54.175Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326612/jean-baptiste-massignon/","keywords":["TIME100 Climate 2025","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d219b7759305d7e/6998cb0107a30d0a1a77d763/Catalyst-Jean-Baptiste-Massignon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d219b7759305d7e/6998cb0107a30d0a1a77d763/Catalyst-Jean-Baptiste-Massignon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-climate-2025/","name":"TIME100 Climate 2025"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326612/jean-baptiste-massignon/","name":"Jean-Baptiste Massignon"}}]}] ```