Quick answer: In 2026, "sustainable" is no longer a marketing slogan but a market requirement. Three big shifts: waterborne coatings replacing solvent-borne, VOC reduction under environmental rules, and bio-based raw materials. The trend opens opportunities — but also raises new challenges for formulation and quality control.
A market shifting fast
Market reports project the global bio-based & low-VOC paint segment rising from about US$18.2 billion (2025) to ~US$41.1 billion (2035) (CAGR ~8.5%), driven mainly by tighter environmental regulation and demand for healthier building materials. Within the region, waterborne already holds a high share in some markets (Indonesia is reported at roughly 74% waterborne).
Three shifts shaping 2026
- Waterborne over solvent-borne: lower solvent emissions, easier clean-up, safer — but more sensitive to application conditions and can differ in colour/gloss from solvent systems.
- VOC reduction: regulatory and customer pressure pushes makers to cut VOCs while keeping performance.
- Bio-based: resins and additives from plant oils and natural resins reduce fossil-fuel reliance; bio-based content share is increasingly emphasised.
Sustainability makes QC harder — and more important
Moving to waterborne and bio-based usually means changing raw materials and formulations, which brings risks around batch-to-batch colour stability, metamerism (colour drift under different light sources) and gloss/appearance differences. Objective measurement becomes essential:
- Spectrophotometer colour measurement to control ΔE and catch metamerism when resin/colourant systems change.
- Gloss, DOI and surface-structure measurement to ensure appearance matches the old solvent systems.
- Digital colour standards to stay consistent as formulas keep "greening" (see: Digital colour standards).
A view from K&K Chemical
K&K Chemical supplies both additives & chemicals for modern coatings and BYK-Gardner instruments for quality control. As the industry shifts to sustainability, we help plants hit environmental goals while holding colour and appearance steady — so "green" doesn't come at the cost of quality.