The big carmakers are accelerating their electric vehicles programmes, but the contradiction in the desire to move away from fossil fuels for power yet use more fossil fuel-based synthetics in the interiors seems to be lost on some companies. The challenge is to close that knowledge gap.

The European Commission has proposed that by 2030, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars should be 55% less than 2021 levels. China has introduced stringent fuel economy regulations and US president, Joe Biden, has set out plans “to drive the electric vehicle future forward, outcompete China, and tackle the climate crisis”.  An important part of this is an executive order that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 will be zero-emission.

As well as policy support, the price of batteries has fallen and there has been investment in charging infrastructure. This combination is reflected in the numbers: passenger EV sales are projected to increase sharply, rising from 3 million in 2020 (about 1% of vehicles) to 14 million in 2025 and 66 million in 2040, according to BloombergNEF. Globally, EVs will represent more than two-thirds of passenger vehicle sales in 2040.

EV adoption varies widely by geography. China is broadly leading, partly in terms of the developments but mainly in terms of adoption, as it is the largest car market. Europe’s vehicle CO2 regulations mean it is not far behind. In Germany, EVs are expected to make up 40% of total sales by 2025, while China will hit around a quarter by then, according to Bloomberg. The US market is expected to pick up by the mid-2020s while rest of the world will be slower as regulatory support is limited and consumers will still favour the lower-cost combustion engines.

But what about the interiors? Companies are touting the ‘sustainable material choices’ in their new designs: reused plastic, FSC-certified wood and mats made from recycled fishing nets at BMW (although it does still promote olive-tanned leather);  American red gum tree wood (only used if a tree falls naturally); ‘leather alternative’ Nordico, made from forestry by-products, recycled corks and plastic bottles, at Volvo (see separate article); and Range Rover says some models can be upgraded with wool and recycled plastic-based Kvadrat.

As well as ‘novel’ materials, synthetics abound. If the goal is to reduce fossil fuel dependence and carbon emissions, would it not make sense to increase the amount of leather used? This contradiction is something Stephen Sothmann, president of the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA), wishes was clearer.

“Carmakers are free to provide consumers with a variety of options in materials, and I think that freedom of choice should be encouraged, but they also need to be transparent and fact-based in their marketing claims,” he tells World Leather. “Reducing leather consumption in automobiles will have absolutely zero impact on animal welfare or cattle production globally. None. It will only add to increased waste as unused hides are sent to landfills. I challenge the OEMs to provide a cogent economic argument proving otherwise.”

LHCA estimates 300 million cattle hides accrue from the meat and dairy sectors across the globe each year and 60% of this is used to make leather. This means 120 million hides a year are “just thrown away”, material from which tanners could make 560 million square-metres of leather.

Mr Sothmann believes that, rather than address this, some of these companies are disguising their money decisions. “If they choose not to offer leather, they need to stop hiding behind false claims of sustainability when they are in fact making pure economic decisions. It is an unfortunate fact that plastic is often cheaper to use than natural materials, when the true cost of plastic’s environmental impact is not properly accounted for.”

Egbert Dickers, sustainability manager at chemicals group Smit & Zoon, goes a step further:  “What is going wrong with society that we step into the trap set up by brands like Volvo and Tesla and others to move away from natural materials (like leather in car seats) and use synthetic materials made from fossil fuel instead?” he asks. “Keep the carbon in the ground and use natural materials that are readily available!”

Secondary materials

BMW is planning to put ten million all-electric vehicles on the road by 2030, when half  of its sales will be electric. BMW chairman, Oliver Zipse, is hanging his hat on ‘circularity’: “We must turn the narrative around – from a taken-for-granted, unquestioned use of primary materials to the primacy of secondary materials.”

Mr Zipse reiterated the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions across vehicles’ lifecycles by at least 40% by 2030. “How companies are dealing with CO2 emissions has become a major factor when it comes to judging corporate action,” he says. The leather industry’s representative body in the European Union (COTANCE) is revisiting the argument that tanners’ share of the upstream carbon footprint of their raw material should be zero as farmers have no way of knowing if their hides will be used – this, or getting leather universally accepted as a circular material, would be a breakthrough for automotive sector players.

While on the surface, Mr Zipse’s statement appears to support the use of leather (as a byproduct), it is phasing out leather from its Mini brand. Of its new Mini Vision Urbanaut concept, it says, “the absence of leather and chrome underline the sustainability of the visionary concept”.

The secretary to the International Council of Tanners, Dr Kerry Senior, calls this “deeply disappointing” as leather is the “original circular material”. “Leather is a recycled product that valorises a renewable, biodegradable waste into a beautiful, functional material.” He also says that leather interiors hold a strong appeal for consumers, with research in the US finding that 69% of car buyers prefer leather upholstery in the interior, while 54% of buyers of new Minis in the UK in 2020 chose leather upholstery.

Leather demand

Laurie Busch, vice-president of global design at US-based tanning group Pangea, agrees. “There are many studies that indicate the end consumer appreciates real leather and is willing to pay for it,” she tells us. Carmakers want to send a clear message to their consumers that their EVs are new. “Designers are challenged to convey that message through material selection,” she adds. “ I think there is misunderstanding and misinformation about material origin, material content, C02 footprint, how data is gathered and what data is reported. And then there are regulations.”

For the carmakers, the road ahead might still be bumpy. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) says there is a serious lack of electric charging points along the road networks in most EU member states. Its findings show that 10 countries do not even have one charger for every 100 kilometre of key roads.

However, legislation on internal combustion engines (the UK will ban petrol and diesel cars from 2035, Norway from 2025) will be a major driving force, the race to highlight leather as a more sustainable option will become all the more intense for an automotive leather sector vying to keep its place in the hearts and minds of customers.

There is evidence that the message is getting through at consumer level. “I know leather holds a luxury status in consumers’ minds. Consumer education comes down to communication regarding what we make, why we make it and the impact of diverting millions of hides from landfills every year,” says Ms Busch.

It might also be getting through to the car groups and OEMs. Mr Sothmann says the reactions to him speaking out on this subject have been “strong but encouraging”. “Many people are still willing to listen to reason and fact-based arguments even when inundated with false information.

“We are further engaging the automakers on this topic to begin educating them about the truth about leather production. The fact is, automakers, much like fashion brands, are typically very far removed from agriculture and food production systems and therefore susceptible to a lot of misinformation around these topics. Our next step is to try and close that knowledge gap.”

After trying to close the gap, it will be up to the carmakers to show strength, coherence and transparency in their selections. 

General Motors will invest $35 billion before 2025 in electric and autonomous vehicles and launch more than 30 EVs globally.
Credit: General Motors 

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