NET ZERO LEATHER

The global business community seems determined to reach net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050. The definition of what is net zero and how it can be achieved using off-setting was covered in the magazine before.
This article will focus on leather and how it can be a leading material in ensuring that products made from it can be part of the economy focussed on low carbon or carbon neutral manufacturing.

OFF-SETTING VERSUS IN-SETTING
Led by major brands such as the Kering Group, the antagonism towards off-setting carbon impacts has resulted in supply chains looking internally as to how they will become carbon neutral. Let’s be very clear, carbon reduction can only go part of the way to get to neutrality, the remaining carbon has to be paired against human related activities that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Off-setting up until now has been that mechanic and as mentioned in the previous article there have been some very dubious schemes that claim to do this. Major brands are determined to bring back the trust in these carbon sinking trading schemes.

In-setting is a carbon negative activity (resulting from additionality) that is used to balance out carbon impacts within a supply chain. In other words, not relying on external, uncertified, unverified activities outside a supply chain - the in-setting looks to an auditable set of projects within a supply chain that are carbon negative.

Additionality is the other key term used here, it means the negative carbon result that comes from additional capacity caused by that supply chain process. In other words, the farmer is not allowed to claim that the soil is taking up carbon (which it does naturally), they can only claim additional carbon taken up as a result of their interventions - they measure the baseline uptake and then they do something that increase soil carbon uptake - that additionality is what they can claim. Someone cannot claim the carbon taken up by a forest, they have to plant new forests or manage a forest such that it sinks more.

Leather supply chain
Figure 1 shows the possible ways in which the leather industry could find places where carbon sinks can be made to be part of an industry striving for net zero.

Figure 1. A flow diagram showing interrelated parts of the supply chain (opportunities shown in light blue box)

Figure 1 highlights possible areas of interest for carbon sink advantage:
1) Regenerative agriculture including plant growth and soil carbon.
2) Blue and teal carbon
3) Biopolymer manufacturing especially from wastes
4) Carbon capture from Scope 1 and 2 emissions (e.g., energy generation)
5) Circular bioeconomy, wastes and end-of-life products are cycled back to the supply chain
6) Manufacturers themselves do internal projects that removes carbon from the atmosphere
7) Allocation to multiple products allows the decarbonisation of products to reduce the footprint of the other products
The first consideration is that the supply chain cannot do anything unless the entire value chain is committed to the decarbonisation effort. Manufacturers need to become familiar with their entire value chain and should start talking about their carbon goals.

Solutions
Farmers are a key component of carbon reduction - not the opposite. At the moment farmers are cash deficit and undervalued. The baseline carbon sink potential of Southern African farmers is low. Soil erosion, nutrient depletion, and land degradation (with some deforestation) drive farming to be net positive in the region (where it should be the opposite).
There are many examples of South African farmers who do not till the soil, are adding biochar (see Nederburg farms), and are working at increasing soil carbon. Organic matter in soil and the prevention of soil erosion ensures that the soil carbon content will increase. High soil organic matter means the microbiology and small animal ecology of the earth returns and in turn this allows better water retention. A healthy soil microbiology allows the plants to use plant exudates (carbon secretions that tell the soil microbiology to mineralise metals and other nutrients like nitrogen or phosphorus). Projects like the green belt in the Sahara that is preventing desertification shows that land management interventions (even in water scarce areas) allows the land and vegetation return to plant rich areas.

Other land interventions like sand dams, permaculture crop planting, and compost (or compost tea) use allows the soils to deepen. A common criticism of regenerative agriculture is that there is a limit to how much carbon can be sequestered in soil - this is a fallacy, as soil depth is limitless. A soil depth can go from 30 cm to 200 cm (and beyond) - with a high carbon content making soil an excellent sink.

Carbon stored in marine water (plants, water, and sediments) is called blue carbon with teal carbon stored in freshwater (plants, water, and sediments). pH levels, healthy plant (and algae) growth, and water oxygen levels are critical to enhancing water systems. Anoxic sediments and swamp conditions tend to release methane, an intense greenhouse gas. Water management includes aeration, appropriate dredging, and the removal of alien water weeds.

Carbon banks are actively engaging with water carbon projects (blue and teal) because many see it as a form of carbon sink that is easier to verify than forestry projects.

The chemical industry is looking to manufacture more biopolymers and chemicals that can be harvested from natural sources (especially waste plants and animals). There is even technology that exists that looks at manufacturing chemicals from CO2 in the atmosphere.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is not restricted to energy producers and companies in Iceland - anyone can do CCS. Any part of the supply chain that is looking to remove carbon out of the atmosphere and are doing so as part of their projects to balance their positive carbon emissions out. All technology must be 3rd party audited to allow genuine in-setting.

The last set of solutions looked at include the use of more products in allocation, in other words all the by-products from the leather industry should be seen as valuable and should start to have an economic purpose. Allocation of process and upstream impacts to a wider range of products will allow the other products to reduce their intensity. The allocation or the use of all waste (including end-of-life) means that if returned to the circular bioeconomy the activity can be viewed as carbon negative, allowing the credits to be used to in-set process carbon.

There are plenty of opportunities for companies willing to think creatively.

In the next issue: Job cards - are these bureaucratic pieces of paperwork worth anything? The tracking of work, quality control indicators, dates and timing, and non-conformance can be tagged onto this tool and production control and monitoring can be greatly enhanced. The job card can be historical and diagnostic.