The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has released new Guidelines for Assessing the Environmental Footprint of Leather, providing what they describe as a harmonized and scientifically grounded approach for calculating the environmental impact of leather across the value chain.

The publication was prepared under the guidance of Ivan Kral, Head of the Rural Development, Agro-Industries & Industrial Parks Unit at UNIDO and delivered by SPIN 360 led by Federico Brugnoli, with contributions from a 55 member advisory group representing the international leather industry across 16 countries.

The group included a diverse range of stakeholders such as brands, tanneries, chemical companies, universities, NGOs and representatives from other industrial sectors. The guidelines were developed over nearly 2 years.

According to UNIDO, the guidelines were developed to address growing interest in Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Product Carbon Footprint (CFP) calculations within the leather value chain. While several Product Category Rules (PCRs) and environmental assessment frameworks already exist, the document notes that current approaches still lack a fully harmonized and standardized methodology.

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