Leather Cluster Barcelona supports the Leather Manifesto

On the occasion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, major players in the global leather sector champion the positive contribution of natural materials to reducing impact on the environment

Leather & Hides Council of America, the cluster of the leather industry of the United States, has promoted and developed a manifesto to highlight the role of natural materials, such as leather and hides, in limiting the climate impacts of consumer materials, especially in comparison with synthetic materials based on fossil fuels.

The document, entitled Leather Manifesto, will be made public days before the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference is held.

This conference has been held every year since 1995 and brings together representatives of the countries that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty addressing climate change.

This edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place from 31 October to 12 November, and delegations from almost 200 countries will meet in Glasgow to take action to curb the climate emergency.

Leather Cluster Barcelona supports and signs the manifesto, which champions leather as a benchmark of the circular economy and calls for the recognition and promotion of the use of natural materials for their positive contribution to reducing the climate impact of consumer products and for reducing the unnecessary dependence on plastic materials based on fossil fuels.

The world needs materials that are sustainable, renewable, recyclable, biodegradable and, most importantly, that do not increase the carbon burden of the atmosphere. Natural materials, such as leather, cotton, wool or silk, form part of the biogenic carbon cycle and, as such, are made up of carbon that has been in the atmosphere for millennia. These readily available raw materials are an important replacement for fossil fuels, reducing the need for their extraction and keeping more carbon in the ground. Moreover, at the end of their useful life, natural materials will biodegrade, limiting their impact and mitigating harmful emissions, such as the microplastic pollution often associated with the synthetic materials that seek to imitate leather.

In addition to Leather Cluster Barcelona, the manifesto is signed by, among others, national bodies and associations of the leather industry from France, the United States, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, the Netherlands, China, Spain and Great Britain, Cotance (Confederation of National Associations of Tanners and Dressers of the European Community) and the Leather Working Group (an organisation for the accreditation and certification of good environmental practices).

The Leather Manifesto is also supported by international entities for the dissemination and promotion of leather such as Leather Naturally and One 4 Leather.