COTANCE content with progress in carbon debate
12/10/2012
In September in Shanghai, the 18th session of the Leather Panel of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) included lifecycle analysis and carbon footprint among the subjects for discussion. UNIDO and COTANCE said afterwards that they wanted calculations of the carbon footprint of leather to be fairer. In light of the lack of a single methodology for working out leather’s environmental footprint, the organisations welcomed details of a new technical report on the subject from Milan-based consultant Federico Brugnoli.
In the build-up to the Bologna event, delegates at COTANCE’s autumn council meeting, in Bucharest on September 26, welcomed the debate on carbon footprint. The organisation said it was encouraged by the support the new report gives to its contention that “the burden of the livestock industry” should make no contribution to leather’s carbon footprint. “This will empower the leather sector to have the opportunity to defend itself from being dragged into an unsustainable position and to argue with the right methodological tools for the environmentally sound choice of leather, notably against artificial substitutes,” the organisation said.
At the Bologna meeting, Federico Brugnoli presented his report to the audience and a question-and-answer session followed. COTANCE said immediately afterwards that the event had gone well. However, delegates representing some of the most prestigious luxury leathergoods brands in the world admitted privately afterwards that they did not believe a position that sought to free the leather industry entirely from “the [carbon footprint] burden of the livestock industry” could work in the commercial world.
Share this story:
