The path is clear for climate-positive leather, UNIC president says
The president of Italy’s national leather manufacturing representative body, UNIC, Fabrizio Nuti, has said there are now “documented cases” of tanners producing carbon-neutral leather.
Making the opening remarks at a presentation on Leather Leaders, a new supply chain collaboration programme, at APLF in Hong Kong on March 13, Mr Nuti went on to say that, with leather, there is ample potential to go beyond zero and produce material that is climate-positive.
“With synthetic materials, that potential is not there,” he said.
Science and data will be the key to achieving and demonstrating climate-positive leather, Mr Nuti continued. He said new science emerging on biogenic carbon and a growing acceptance that commonly quoted lifecycle assessment figures underestimate the environmental impact of synthetic alternatives would help.
“The only credible path to sustainability is for brands to buy materials that science and data prove are better,” he concluded.
