New Leather Manifesto for COP 29 launched

The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November. In the run-up to the event, the International Council of Tanners, the Leather and Hide Council of America, Leather Naturally and all other international industry organisations have joined forces to publish a new Leather Manifesto calling on delegates to recognise the positive role that leather products, due to their durability, can play in reducing consumption and the environmental impact of the fashion industry.
The first Leather Manifesto was published three years ago ahead of COP26, countersigned by more than 20 leather industry organisations from around the world who are now renewing the call at COP29.
Expanding on previous messages, the new Manifesto also emphasises all the positive characteristics of leather that can be part of the solution to climate change.
The document calls for regulators to recognise the challenges faced by the leather industry, noting that it is “constantly working towards ever greater sustainability and circularity”, but that its efforts will be undermined if regulators and brands do not give “due consideration to the real impacts and benefits of natural materials such as leather”. There is also a mention of the Anti-Deforestation Regulation, which also implicates leather without any scientific evidence of its role in deforestation.
The document goes on to state that leather is “an ideal choice for a sustainable future”, encouraging reuse and slow fashion.