The Spanish Tanning Association – ACEXPIEL, together with 30 other international organizations of the leather industry, requests the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26- Glasgow, October 31 to November 12, 2021) to prioritize materials natural resources as a means of directly mitigating climate impact. The Leather Manifesto, written by the organizations, challenges COP26 to recognize the cyclical and climate-efficient characteristics of natural fibers and their potential to reduce the climate impacts of consumer products.
“Natural fibers such as leather, cotton, wool, mohair, alpaca, silk, hemp and mycelium are part of the biogenic carbon cycle and, as such, are composed of carbon that has been in the atmosphere for millennia, ”states the Skin Manifesto. “These readily available raw materials, when produced ethically and properly, are an important replacement for fossil fuels, reducing the need for their extraction and retaining more carbon in the land. In addition, at the end of their useful life, properly produced natural materials will biodegrade, limiting their impact and mitigating harmful emissions, such as microplastic pollution, often associated with synthetic materials ”.
The Manifesto further notes that natural materials, such as leather, are often discarded due to a lack of knowledge of the manufacturing process and its supply chain, or due to the application of questionable science usually in the form of incomplete life cycle assessments, incomparable or outdated Substitute materials, often synthetic alternatives based on fossil fuels, use this confusion to make unsubstantiated claims about their sustainability.
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