Eco-Footprinting of Leather
COTANCE welcomes the results of the UNIDO Leather Panel Meeting in Shanghai on Eco-Footprinting of Leather
At its Autumn Council meeting held in Bucharest on 26 September 2012, COTANCE delegates from Italy (UNIC), Spain (ACEXPIEL), France (FFTM), Germany (VDL), United Kingdom (UKLF), Netherlands (FNL), Sweden (SG) and Romania (APPBR) expressed their satisfaction on the results of the debate on Eco-Footprinting of Leather at the Shanghai UNIDO Leather Panel meeting of last 3 and 4 of September.
UNIDO Leather Panel members made up from renowned experts in the sector reviewed a Technical Report presented at an advanced state of completion providing the methodological key for sustaining the Leather sector’s claim to exclude from the LCA system boundaries of the leather value chain the burden of the livestock industry. The methodology is called “System expansion” and was developed in Denmark in the late 1990s for addressing the case of natural resources generating by-products and co-products.
The experts in Shanghai expressed clearly their view that the system boundaries of the leather value chain start at the slaughterhouse with the generation of the hide or skin as a by-product free from the environmental burden of meat and milk production, the actual drivers of their production.
Meeting Commissioner Tajani
The COTANCE Presidency meets Industry Commissioner and Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani
On July 30, 2012, Industry Commissioner and Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani received in Brussels the recently elected COTANCE President Rino Mastrotto. President Mastrotto headed a small delegation composed by COTANCE Vice-Presidents Muirhead, Roselló and Mercogliano as well as COTANCE Secretary General Gonzalez-Quijano.
This encounter between the governing body of the European Leather Industry and the Member of the European Commission in charge of Industrial Policy served to underscore the leadership of European leather producers, notably in key areas of sustainable development, as well as their crucial role in technical, fashion and luxury value chains. With a turnover of some 8 billion Euro, a positive trade balance, worldwide best environmental practice and social accountability standards, European leather is a key player at global scale and in global value chains, representing some 15-17% of global leather trade in value.
Vice-President Tajani is to present later this year a Communication on Industrial Policy outlining the policy objectives and initiatives that aim at strengthening the competitiveness of European industry. The European Commission is also to address aspects of the customs union and the internal market, and enter into further Free Trade negotiations with third countries.
Campaign for Leather
COTANCE launches its Permanent Leather Promotion Campaign
That’s Life, That’s Leather!
After offering in Shanghai the licensing of its Campaign material free of charge in the newly established Executive Committee of ICT, COTANCE decided, in its Bucharest Council meeting of September 26, 2012, the institution of a Permanent Leather Promotion Campaign under the slogan “That’s Life, That’s Leather!”.
Created in 2004, the COTANCE Campaign “That’s Life, That’s Leather!” proved that effective communication to the general public on leather does not need to be prohibitively costly and that even less wealthy leather trade associations can possibly sustain effective activities in one of their core competences: the defence and promotion of leather.
The 2004 Campaign was developed as a “postcard-exercise” where images of the omnipresence of leather in our lives testify to the usefulness of the material and the emotions that it engenders in people. The permanent COTANCE Campaign now launched in Bucharest intends to build on the success of the past and to develop a combination of traditional and internet based communication tools.
Leather trade associations can join the Campaign by subscribing a simple licence agreement and possibly a voluntary financial contribution.
COTANCE invites leather sector operators to sponsor this initiative.
Rino Mastrotto as new COTANCE Chairman
COTANCE elects a New Presidency
Barcelona, 8 June 2012
The COTANCE General Assembly, gathering in Barcelona on 8 June the representatives from Europe’s tanning industry, elected a new Presidency and Mr Rino Mastrotto was appointed chairman for the 2012-2014 term.
Mr Jonathan Muirhead (Scottish Leather Group/UKLF) and Mr Thomas Bee (Seton/VDL) have been appointed as Vice-Presidents. Mr Albert Rosello (Serpelsa/ACEXPIEL) as immediate past President remains in the COTANCE Presidency as 3rd Vice-President. The position of Mr Salvatore Mercogliano (Lineapelle/UNIC) as Vice-President has been confirmed.
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