How Much Crude Oil Is in Your Sunscreen? A Shocking Look at Oxybenzone’s Fossil Fuel Footprint

Every summer, millions of people lather up in sunscreen to protect their skin from the sun’s harsh rays. But what if we told you that the same product designed to shield you from harm might be doing significant damage to the planet? One of the most commonly used chemical UV filters in mainstream sunscreen, oxybenzone (also known as benzophenone-3), is a petrochemical derived from none other than crude oil.

Crude Oil to Sunscreen: Tracing the Journey

Oxybenzone doesn't grow on trees it starts life as benzene, an aromatic compound derived directly from crude oil. From there, it undergoes a series of chemical transformations that convert it into phenol, then hydroquinone, and eventually oxybenzone. Each of these steps requires energy, catalysts, and additional chemicals many of which are also petroleum-based.

Our own rough estimation suggests that creating 1 litre of oxybenzone may require up to 98 litres of crude oil, factoring in an average real-world manufacturing efficiency of around 51%. That’s not a typo almost 100 litres of fossil fuel to create just one litre of UV-filtering chemical.

And that’s under ideal assumptions. According to marine scientist Dr Craig Downs, depending on the country of origin and the oil extraction process, the conversion ratio of crude oil to benzene alone may vary between 100 to 900 litres of crude oil per litre of benzene.

A Hidden Environmental Cost

Sunscreen is typically marketed as a health and wellness product, but when we peel back the marketing, we discover a highly industrialised and polluting supply chain. Not only is the ingredient base fossil fuel-derived, but so is the packaging (typically plastic), and the distribution process which often involves global shipping, further contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

If millions of people are applying sunscreens that contain 3–10% oxybenzone, and those products are produced at scale by large manufacturers, it’s not hard to imagine thousands of barrels of oil being consumed just to produce UV filters every year.

Why This Matters

As ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reporting becomes more prominent, and as governments and consumers demand more sustainable products, the fossil fuel footprint of skincare ingredients like oxybenzone is no longer something brands can afford to ignore.

The clean beauty movement has made progress on paraben-free and cruelty-free formulations, but it’s time to expand the conversation to include petroleum-free and climate-conscious standards.

Final Thoughts

We’re not saying you should skip sun protection in fact, quite the opposite. But there are better alternatives available today: mineral sunscreens using non-nano zinc oxide or titanium dioxide offer broad-spectrum protection without the environmental trade-off. By choosing reef-friendly and fossil-free products, we can protect both our health and our planet.