Twenty-six international leather industry organisations have called on the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) to prioritise natural materials as a means of directly mitigating climate impact.
- The 'Leather Manifesto' has exhorted the COP27 to recognise the cyclical, climate-efficient characteristics of leather and other natural fibres.
- It urged the COP27 to understand the implications of the huge amounts of raw material of leather production, hides and skins, that are currently being thrown away.
The Manifesto: Titled 'A Manifesto for COP27: Earth’s Legacy – A Place for Leather', it remarked:
- If we are to prevent further damage being done to the planet, we must learn to make the best use of the resources available and to do so without diminishing them or causing harm to the environment. It should not be acceptable that we are wasting huge volumes of a natural, readily available versatile raw material in hides and skins.
- Every year, an estimated 120 million hides, equivalent to approximately 600 million square metres of leather, are thrown into landfill, creating nearly 15 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- Furthermore, this wasted leather will be replaced with fossil fuel-derived synthetic alternatives, with the additional emissions and impacts that entails. In the process, we are losing the opportunity to put shoes on over 2.5 billion pairs of feet. That’s 33% of the world’s population that we could provide shoes for.
The Call: The organisations urged the COP27 to:
- Recognise the cyclical, climate efficient nature of natural fibres and their potential for a positive contribution to reducing the climate impacts of consumer products.
- Encourage the use of natural fibres wherever feasible and reduce unnecessary reliance on fossil-fuel-based materials.
- Support LCA methodologies that accurately account for the environmental impact of all materials, including end of life properties.
- Promote ‘slow fashion’, durable products, and items that can be used many times, repaired and refurbished, and last for years.
What They Said:
Here at Sustainable Leather Foundation we are committed to a sustainable future within which leather is an intrinsic material. We fully endorse this Leather Manifesto and will continue to work with the whole leather value chain to demonstrate best practice across all areas of Environmental, Social and Governance responsibility in line with the UN Guiding Principles and SDGs.
— Deborah Taylor
Managing Director
Sustainable Leather Foundation
The Signatories: The organisations that signed the manifesto included:
- Asociación Española del Curtido (ACEXPIEL – Spanish Tanners’ Association)
- Associação Portuguesa dos Industriais de Curtumes (APIC – Portugal Tanners’ Association)
- Australian Hide Skin and Leather Exporters' Association Inc. (AHSLEA)
- Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry (CICB)
- Centro Tecnológico das Indústrias do Couro (CTIC - Leather Center in Portugal)
- China Leather Industry Association (CLIA)
- Confederation of National Associations of Tanners and Dressers of the European Community (COTANCE)
- International Council of Hides, Skins and Leather Traders Association (ICHSLTA)
- International Council of Tanners (ICT)
- International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies (IULTCS)
- Fédération Française des Cuirs et Peaux (FFCP - French Hides & Skins Association)
- Fédération Française Tannerie Megisserie (FFTM - French Tanners Association)
- Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA)
- Leather Cluster Barcelona (LCB)
- Leather Naturally (LN)
- Leather UK (LUK)
- Leather Working Group (LWG)
- One 4 Leather (O4L)
- Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists (SLTC)
- Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF)
- Swedish Tanners Association
- Turkish Leather Industrialists Association (TDSD)
- UNIC Concerie Italiane (Italian Tanneries Association)
- Verband der Deutschen Lederindustrie e.V. (VDL – German Leather Federation)
- Wirtschaftsverband Häute/Leder (WHL – German Hide and Leather Association)
- Zimbabwe Leather Development Council (ZLDC)
