COTANCE urges leather companies to volunteer for new footprint project
17/06/2013
The European Commission is proposing EU-wide methods to measure the environmental performance of products and organisations, and is encouraging member states and the private sector to take them up.
COTANCE secretary-general, Gustavo González-Quijano, spoke about the proposal at the recent Beast to Beauty conference in Northampton and suggested it was important for the leather industry to take part so that it can clarify the ongoing debate about the carbon footprint of leather.
According to the European Commission, companies that want to highlight the environmental performance of their products face numerous obstacles. They have to choose between several methods promoted by governments and private initiatives, they are often forced to pay multiple costs for providing environmental information, and they face the mistrust of consumers confused by too many labels with information that makes products difficult to compare.
According to a recent study quoted by the commission, 48% of European consumers are confused by the stream of environmental information they receive.
Several industrial federations have called for a pan-European approach built on EU-wide science-based assessments and lifecycle analysis (LCA). Mr González-Quijano said in Northampton that this would help leather too because, he insisted, a scientific approach was likely to support COTANCE’s position that 0% of the upstream carbon footprint of cattle, sheep and goats should be attributable to the carbon footprint of leather.
The EU’s environment commissioner, Janez Potocnik, has said: “To boost sustainable growth, we need to make sure that the most resource-efficient and environmentally friendly products on the market are known and recognisable. By giving people reliable and comparable information about the environmental impacts and credentials of products and organisations, we enable them to choose. And by helping companies to align their methods we cut their costs and administrative burdens.”
Next steps include a three-year testing period. Commissioner Potocnik has issued an open call for volunteer companies and organisations to use special European Commission web portals to participate. A second phase will build on an in-depth evaluation of the results of the testing period to allow the commission to decide on its future policy regarding the environmental footprint of products and organisations.
The information from the European Commission is available at this link Single Market for Green Products Initiative.
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