Towards Zero Adverse Impact of the European Leather Industry

ended

The European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) and the EU Industrial Strategy identified the textiles ecosystem, including the leather industry, as a priority sector in which the EU can pave the way towards a socially fairer, carbon neutral, circular economy. An EU Strategy on textiles should support it in this transition, repairing the short-term damage from the Covid-19 crisis in a way that also invests in the long-term future of the ecosystem. Against this EU policy background, the Leather sector’s Social Partners, COTANCE and industriAll-Europe, concur that they must invest in protecting and creating jobs and in driving competitive sustainability by building a fairer, greener and more resilient European tanning industry. They agree in addressing in Social Dialogue projects key issues identified in their 2016 Joint Manifest and subsequent Roadmap towards 2025 (Joint Multiannual Work Programme). The first of these projects will address two key issues in the tanning sector: (1) safety at the workplace and (2) carbon footprint. Through surveys and official information as well as interviews and other appropriate channels, the project partners will collect the necessary data on both topics to provide the sector’s operators and stakeholders with intelligence on elements on which to act to further reduce impacts. The information will serve as a baseline for measuring progress and a benchmark for the leather industry, both in EU and extra-EU. The initiative implemented in 7 countries covering over 80% of the sector’s companies and workers, will be developed in Social Dialogue at all levels of governance. Two international Workshops will be organised on the selected topics, relevant printed and video material will be disseminated in a dedicated EU-wide campaign, and a Final Conference scheduled in Brussels will conclude the project with a presentation of the results to the sector’s stakeholders.