Leather’s circularity credentials deserve full recognition in the EU’s new Circular Economy Act. And if circularity becomes a requirement for winning public procurement contracts, rich rewards are on offer.

According to current schedules, 2026 will be the year in which a new European Union (EU) Circular Economy Act comes into force. The European Commission’s claim is that the new act will enhance the EU’s economic security and competitiveness, while promoting more sustainable production, circular economy business models and decarbonisation.

The background to this is that the Commission accepts that “going circular is what the public sees as the most effective solution to environmental challenges”. But it admits progress towards circularity has been insufficient and that there needs to be greater effort to move  forward. The transition needs to be from the ‘make-use-discard’ model to a ‘make carefully-use for ages-repair-reuse-recycle-make carefully’ model instead.

In its presentation of the Circular Economy Act, the European Commission has also made reference to the Antwerp Declaration. This was a call ahead of the 2024 elections to the European Parliament for the preservation of quality manufacturing jobs in the EU. Since then, manufacturing jobs have continued to leave Europe, often for cheaper, less regulated locations. 

Manufacturing jobs at risk

Sources including the Financial Times and the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) suggest that job losses in the EU automotive supply chain in 2024 and 2025 are in excess of 100,000 positions. CLEPA has said the automotive industry in the EU is in danger of losing a total of 350,000 jobs by 2030. Job losses in steel and other metals manufacturing in the EU over the same timeframe are estimated at between 40,000 and 50,000.

The numbers may be smaller, but painful closures have been announced in the leather industry too, for example at Tanneries Pechdo in France and Wollsdorf Leather in Austria. The leather industry’s main representative body in the EU, COTANCE, argues that leather manufacturing remains “a sizeable, strategic sector”, with 1,500 companies and 30,000 direct jobs in the EU. COTANCE, was a signatory of the Antwerp Declaration. So was trade union organisation industriAll Europe, which COTANCE refers to as its “social partner”.

Rooted in circularity

It seems clear from commentary around the Antwerp Declaration that what the signatories mean by quality manufacturing positions is work opportunities that pay well and provide high levels of social protection (with good holidays, pensions, sickness pay, health insurance and so on). At a meeting on the future of the leather sector in Europe in December 2025, the general secretary of industriAll Europe, Judith Kirton-Darling, said: “At a time when Europe is losing industrial ground, protecting good jobs must be a political priority. We need coherent EU action, a level playing field, and investments in skills and quality jobs. We will continue defending these jobs and shaping an industrial future where workers are respected, protected and central to Europe’s competitiveness.”

At the same December 2025 meeting, Ms Kirkton-Darling also said the leather sector is “rooted in circularity”. COTANCE echoed this, saying the leather sector has “a unique role” in the circular economy. This has been a consistent message for some time, featuring prominently in a formal feedback submission that COTANCE provided during consultation on the upcoming Circular Economy Act. 

Sustainable procurement

In its submission, COTANCE said leather is “a valuable and sustainable contributor to the EU’s circular economy,” but one that is often “overlooked or misrepresented” in policy frameworks. Its view is that the Circular Economy Act presents “an opportunity to correct this” and to ensure that natural materials, including leather, are “fairly evaluated and supported”. Actions it has recommended as the Commission completes its work on the new act include recognition of animal by-products as part of the circular economy and promotion of their use. It insists that leather research projects should have access to the funding that will become available under a new EU research framework.

It has also said the Circular Economy Act should support moves to have leather authenticity labelling across  the EU to make sure consumers can easily identify the materials that manufacturers have used to make the products they are buying. A final COTANCE recommendation is that the act should promote the inclusion of leather in specifications for sustainable public procurement projects.

In 2024, public-sector spending in the EU was almost half of the entire gross domestic product of the 27 member states. This is all public-sector spending, at all levels of government, including pensions payments, which are not subject to procurement exercises.

In its report for 2023, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the share of the EU’s total gross domestic product that went on public procurement expenditure was 14.8%. In late 2025, Eurostat, the official statistics agency of the EU, gave estimated figures that would put GDP for the year at more than €18 trillion. If the percentage share for public procurement stays the same, it would indicate a spend of nearly €2.7 trillion.

Clearly, not all of this procurement is for finished products that use leather, but it is easy to identify examples that do offer opportunities for the leather industry. Governments everywhere spend money on public transport, on official cars, and on public buildings, ranging from government offices to famous opera houses in Vienna, Venice, Berlin and Warsaw. Every government has armed forces and emergency services whose hundreds of thousands of employees wear official footwear.

Piece of cake

COTANCE is correct to argue that the authorities running public procurement exercises will do well to choose leather as often as possible. Leather lasts. It looks lovely for a lot longer, too, making it a matter of economic sense to spend public money on it. And if circularity becomes an important factor in deciding which bids will win public procurement exercises, leather will become a better choice than ever.

In a statement in December 2025, industriAll Europe said the EU’s public procurement framework was in sore need of reform. It said most contract awards are based “on price alone” and warned that this “race to the bottom” must stop.

The trade union organisation is calling for a new model. It insists that sustainability, social rights, and what it calls “Europe’s industrial strategic autonomy” must be central criteria for deciding what to spend citizens’ money on. The reference to industry in Europe is interesting; it explains that having European content in the products the public purse pays for should be a requirement. And it says enforcement of all these criteria should be strong. “Without proper enforcement, even ambitious rules can remain empty promises,” industriAll Europe warns.

The European Union Circular Economy Act can be a positive development for leather. A slice of a €2.7 trillion cake is a prize worth winning.

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