The project has aroused considerable interest and more than 40 cluster members took part in the opening session

This November, Leather Cluster Barcelona began a new project on shared value and corporate sustainability, promoted and funded by ACCIÓ and coordinated by the specialist R4S Group.

ACCIÓ promotes the generation of shared value in the Catalan business fabric as a means of improving competitiveness. It is a pioneering initiative and that is why the project is 100% funded by ACCIÓ.

Roots for Sustainability (R4S) is a positive-impact agency that designs, implements and evaluates transformation projects for companies, non-profit organisations and governments in the fields of organisational sustainability and inclusive business. The purpose of R4S is to activate positive-impact organisations in order to achieve a sustainable global economy: inclusive, prosperous and equitable, and in harmony with the environment. R4S is the founder of the B Corp movement in Spain.

Shared value is defined as the set of policies and practices that improve the competitiveness of companies while improving the social and environmental conditions of the regions in which they operate.

The project as a whole seeks to meet three main objectives:

To reflect on shared value as a strategic element: to raise awareness among Leather Cluster Barcelona members and to train them in the strategy of generating shared value, its integration into business strategy and into that of the sector itself, and the objectives and methods of generating shared value.

To identify and prioritise market opportunities for generating shared value: to identify, investigate and prioritise business opportunities for generating shared value that can be turned into specific projects, executable in the medium and long term, responding to the strategic challenges of the companies in the leather sector.

Training in the evaluation of the organisation’s social and environmental results: to introduce and train the cluster members in measuring the social and environmental results of the organisation, as well as in the subsequent identification of areas for improvement, through the integration and application of the B Corp standard (the BIA).

The initiative has been very well received and more than 40 Leather Cluster Barcelona members attended the opening session, a good number of whom have expressed an interest in taking part in the following stages of the project.

Leather Cluster Barcelona wants to explore in depth the concept of Shared Value, promoted by ACCIÓ in the cluster ecosystem. Indeed, in some presentations on this subject ACCIÓ cites the water treatment plant of the Igualada tanners, Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació SL, as a precedent and an example of shared value, for its economic, social and environmental impact, an infrastructure that has contributed to the continuity of companies, the preservation of jobs and environmental improvement.

The Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació (IDR) treatment plant, as well as being an exemplary demonstration of the advantage of belonging to a cluster, is a pioneer in the integration of shared value, a business project that has a positive impact on society and promotes a balance between business competitiveness and social and environmental improvement, helping to build a fairer, greener and more equitable economy.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector. The cluster is an accredited entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and is supported by Acció.