Determining the product environmental footprint of ostrich leather

A life cycle assessment (LCA) examines the environmental impacts of a product system by examining the inputs and outputs of that system. All the ingredients, wastes, energy, transport, buildings, equipment, and their transformations are modelled. The models can then be used to calculate the magnitude of emissions. pollution, or solid material release and their resulting effect on the environment.

The rules of how the system is scoped; how the goal of the study is defined; how the data is collected and modelled; and how the results are analysed and interpreted are defined using ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. Since the publication of those standards many LCA studies have been performed. It was soon recognised that a high-level definition of how a study should be done allows the studies to be performed in a variety of ways - this provides a rich diversity of results and innovative ways in which the footprint of a system is calculated.

Attributional LCAs are not designed to produce results (the footprint) of a system that can then be used to compare against other systems. The ISO methods are too generalised (to allow all systems to be modelled) for attributional LCA to allow those comparisons. To allow comparisons, the consequential LCA tool was created, where two product systems are directly modelled in one study. Another route that has been created by analysts is the use of “extra” rules that give more structure/guidance to a study.

What is a PEF or PCR?
Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are closely specified by the platforms that display the EPDs for the multitude of products; the ISO 14040/44 rules; the product category rules (PCR) of the industries doing the EPDs; and another ISO method called ISO 14025 that establishes how businesses communicate their environmental declarations more uniformly to each other. ISO 14025 mechanisms can also be used for business to consumer information distribution, but it is less effective. The EPD platforms allow a material purchaser to go online and to examine the footprints of materials - because the LCAs that are performed to get EPD compliant results are highly constrained. A source of that constraint is the PCR mentioned above.

All manufactured products are subject to industrial classification, whether it is Harmonised System (HS) codes for import/export; Classification of Products by Activity (CPA); Central Product Classification (CPC); or simply by (International) Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), SIC. Anyone familiar with these codes understands that there is a hierarchy of how all manufactured or traded products are arranged. The classification starts very generically like in the 2022 version of the HS codes, with the classification of leather in Chapter 41. Then the classification narrows down to the specific product, through categories, classes, groups and the individual product type, so for example HS 4113.90 is the product code for finished Ostrich Skins. HS 4113 is all leather that is not bovine/ovine/caprine in nature. HS Chapter 41 is all raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather. This reveals the generic or specific code of goods. The PCR for leather, EN 16887: 2017, is the rulebook for all carbon footprint calculations and defines how an LCA should be done for all leathers, including ostrich, means that it operates at the Chapter level (Chapter 41 in this case).
A product environmental footprint (PEF) operates at a lower classification level, just above the ostrich skin level. In other words if all ostrich leather LCAs were to conform to an industry agreed set of rules, the rules (with guidance from the leather PCR, and the EU PEF-Category Rules) would help analysts at HS 4113.90 level - the tanners could agree rules specific to ostrich, but under the umbrella of the rules already established for all types of leather. An easy way of thinking about this is the LCA for a product can be conducted as freely as possible, but a PEF is agreed by the ostrich tanners to add a few more rules that keeps tanners aligned so their LCAs are more similar. If an ostrich tanner wants to do an EPD they just simply follow EN 16887: 2017 (for carbon). The point of a PEF is to harmonise the way all ostrich tanners do their LCAs.

What will the rules look like?
Typical sections in a PEF are the following:
1. Definitions
2. Introduction
3. PEF Guide Scope
4. Most relevant impact categories, life cycle stages and processes
5. Life cycle stages
6. Reference product results
7. Verification
8. References
9. Annexes - including critical reviews, factors, and default values

The preliminary pages help to define, introduce, and help with the scope of the PEF Guide. These are useful for the tanners to agree on the terminology used and to define what types of leather or processes are included and which ones are excluded.
Chapters 4-6 are focussed on detailing all the LCA specific rules, these pertain to how the analysts build on the guidance given in ISO 14040/44 to constrain the way the studies get done. Without the rules the LCA analyst has a fair degree of freedom allowing the analyst to “game” the system to increase or decrease the footprint depending on the choice. The sharp-eyed reader will notice that both directions can be exploited - helping people, who are trying to paint a bad picture of leather, to choose negative mechanics that will unfairly “load” the footprint of leather. The PEF or PCR force people to do their LCAs with rules that fairly calculate the footprint of leather. Chapter 6 of the PEF Guide lists the results of a screening study that the industry would have performed that help to give an example of what the PEF intends to show - readers of the guide will be given insights of what to expect from an ostrich PEF study.

Chapter 7 normally handles how data and studies are to be verified, adding integrity to the studies and helping strengthen the value of the results. The final two chapters deal with literature cited in the guide, and the annexes tabulate useful data for LCA analysts. The Digital Product Passport for European goods comes into effect in 2026, with one of the criteria required for all products on the EU market being the environmental footprint. Material manufacturers are expected to have supporting data for article manufacturers, without which the article manufacturers will do their own assessments (without accurate primary data from the tanneries) resulting in inflated footprints for ostrich tanneries. A priority for the South African tanners is to agree a PEF as soon as possible or at the very least look as to how EN 16887: 2017 can be used to guide ostrich leather LCAs.

In the next issue: Are the environment, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability initiatives going to remain order qualifying criteria only, going forward. ESG investment portfolios show strong degrowth in most global markets. Is shareholder capitalism and ESG as a share criterion beginning to show cracks and a general weakening in confidence - especially in light of the current tariff war and its effects on the stock market? These topics will be examined in the next issue.