The European Union has dropped leather from its final list of products targeted under the bloc’s landmark antideforestation law. Experts say the July 13 decision is the result of industry lobbying rather than a true reflection of leather’s deforestation footprint.
The EU deforestation regulation, or EUDR, mandates that companies selling commodities such as cattle, soy, palm oil and cacao in the European market must prove their supply chains aren’t sourcing from recently deforested land. The law is currently set to take effect at the end of this year, following two years of delays. It has faced a series of revisions that effectively weaken the law since it was first passed.
“The decision to exclude leather from the EUDR is deeply disappointing. It ignores strong evidence linking European consumption of leather to deforestation in Latin America,” Fyfe Strachan, policy lead at U.K.-based watchdog organization Earthsight, wrote in an email statement.
“It overlooks the voices of EU citizens from the recent public consultation and instead prioritizes the interests of industry lobbies,” she added.
As Mongabay recently reported, the European Commission’s own research concluded that leather could account for up to 17% of the deforestation footprint linked to imports covered by the EUDR.
Transparency records compiled by the nonprofit LobbyFacts revealed that leather industry groups met with lawmakers at least 22 times since 2021, and the EUDR was explicitly listed as a discussion topic in 11 of the meetings. The lobbying efforts were led by two Italian leather tannery unions, COTANCE and Unione Nazionale Industria Conciaria.
In a leaked draft, the EU had previously acknowledged the “significant environmental benefits, compared to relatively low compliance costs, stemming from maintaining leather in the EUDR scope.” However, they cited concerns about the leather supply chain and strain on the EUDR information systems as justification for removing leather from the regulation.
The European Commission said it removed several products from the regulation’s scope, including “cattle hides, skins and leather, re-treaded tyres, soybeans for sowing, articles of vulcanized rubber, conveyor and transmission belts, and aircraft and motor vehicle seats.”
It also announced that it introduced “targeted exemptions for specific categories of products, including waste, used and second-hand products, packing material, and products used in the manufacture of medicinal products.”
According to Earthsight, the dramatic expansion of carve-outs for waste products, including palm oil, was particularly concerning.
“Fraudulent trading of fresh palm oil mislabeled as waste is already a recognized problem, and expanding waste exemptions risks opening the door to further abuse,” the organization wrote.
“[E]very concession to industry lobbying weakens the regulation,” it added. “It’s time to end the constant rollbacks and focus on implementing this vitally important law.”
Banner image: A tannery in Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Image © Ricardo Funari/Lineair/Greenpeace.
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