On 29 October at Adoberia Bella, Leather Cluster Barcelona organised a session of information, analysis and debate on the regulatory challenges and their impact on the leather industry, and on the possible collaborations between members of Leather Cluster Barcelona to address them jointly.

Led by the experts in environmental management and sustainability, Xavier Marginet of Proyecto Fontanellas i Martí and Diego Navarro of Curtits Badia, the session began with a detailed presentation on the new European Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR).

This regulation, which is in principle due to enter into force on 30 December 2024, aims to ensure that the products consumed in the European Union do not contribute to global deforestation or forest degradation. This new European regulation covers the import, marketing and export of products and seeks to encourage companies operating in the European Union to avoid sources and suppliers with a high risk of deforestation.

Leather is one of the derived products listed in Annex 1 of the EU Deforestation Regulation, even though there is no evidence that it is a driver of deforestation, as demonstrated by the recent study commissioned by UNIC and COTANCE and carried out by the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies of the University of Pisa (Italy).

In this regard, the leather industry is working actively to highlight the specific characteristics of the sector that set it apart within the framework of the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The objective is to argue for its exclusion from the list of regulated activities, since it does not contribute to deforestation. In fact, as has been demonstrated, leather production does not act as a driver of livestock farming activity, unlike the meat and milk sectors.

On 15 November the European Parliament voted in favour of delaying the introduction of the EUDR by 12 months. On this basis, large companies would fall within the scope of the regulation from 30 December 2025 and small companies from June 2026. The confirmation of the need for the delay is very welcome and should provide a window in which to make the case for excluding leather from the scope of the regulation or, failing that, to prepare properly for its application.

However, owing to the confirmation of a series of amendments proposed by the European People's Party (EPP), the proposal to delay application must be agreed again by the European Council, by means of a trilogue with the Commission and Parliament. While awaiting a positive and swift conclusion to the discussions in the EU, the leather industry must be prepared for the introduction of the EUDR at the end of this year.

Including leather within the scope of the EUDR is counterproductive for the reduction of deforestation and, on the contrary, may trigger highly damaging socio-economic and environmental consequences, since it could lead to millions of hides being rejected and left to rot in landfills, with the consequent greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.

It is very important that the legal and regulatory framework should reflect accurately and precisely the traceability of products and the real impacts and benefits of natural materials such as leather. In this regard, the members of Leather Cluster Barcelona who attended the session were very positive about the cluster being able to drive traceability projects across the entire value chain of the leather industry.

During the session there was also reflection on the Restricted Substance List (RSL) of ZDHC, Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals.

Today, leather producers must comply with all the legal regulations on chemical products as regards the use of restricted chemical substances. ZDHC is a non-governmental programme that establishes standards for eliminating hazardous chemicals in the production of textiles and leather. More than 100 global brands and many suppliers of the leather industry take part in the ZDHC programme and ensure compliance with the ZDHC regulations in their supply chains.

Within the framework of the roadmap of the European Green Deal to create a cleaner, healthier and climate-neutral Europe, transforming the production and consumption model, and with Leather Cluster Barcelona's objective of continuing to take steps towards Zero Waste in the leather sector, the cluster is working on the industrial implementation of the INNPELL project.

The INNPELL project, co-funded by ACCIÓ under the RIS3CAT Communities call and led by A3 Leather Innovation Center (UdL) of the Igualada Campus, achieved very significant environmental improvements in the leather production process.

These include a 40% reduction in water consumption, a 65% reduction in chemical products and 100% reuse of solid waste such as fleshings and hair in the form of hydrolysates. In addition, a new curing process that is 98% salt-free and a hide-processing stage that is 100% sulphide-free were also achieved, which entails a significant reduction in the conductivity of the wastewater and an optimisation of treatment costs.

Besides A3 Leather Innovation Center, other members of Leather Cluster Barcelona took part in the project, such as Leather Química SLU, which was the promoter of the initiative, Curtidos Badia SAU, Compañia Arrendataria de Industrial Igualadina SA, Combalia SA, Miret y Compañia SA, Curtits Aqualata SA and Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació SL.

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 within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an entity accredited under the Catalonia Clusters programme and is supported by Acció.