COTANCE makes EU aware of leather’s €125 billion contribution
Ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election, which will run from June 6-9, leather industry body COTANCE has issued a new manifesto. It said its aim was “to guide elected political representatives through the reality and needs of the European leather industry”.
The manifesto identifies specific EU policies that COTANCE says require “attention and care to keep the leather sector competitive”. These include an appeal that legislators use a 2025 review of the forthcoming European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to give an exemption to hides and skins.
Other EU policies the manifesto mentions are those that focus on chemical restrictions, eco-design and the circular economy. On the last of these, it says: “EU legislation does not yet acknowledge the value of by-products to the circular economy, in particular animal by-products, such as hides and skins. Rather than unfairly assigning them part of the environmental footprint of livestock, their use should be encouraged by treating them as waste with zero-allocation.”
COTANCE said the leather industry in the EU is made up of 1,600 companies that, together, employ 33,000 people.
These companies have a combined turnover of more than €7 billion per year, but the leather they make goes into products, including footwear, accessories, furniture, garments and car interiors, with a value that COTANCE has estimated at €125 billion per year.
Image: Artioli.
