COTANCE and industriAll-Europe review progress of their joint project on Social & Environmental Reporting
The SER 2020 project that will produce the 2020 Social & Environmental Report of the EU Leather industry is steered by a committee comprised of representatives from Italy (UNIC-Concerie Italiane), Spain (ACEXPIEL), France (FFTM), Germany (VDL), UK (Leather UK), Hungary (AHLI), Romania (APPBR), Portugal (APIC), together with both EU Social Partners, industriAll- European Trade Union and COTANCE.
The exercise includes the collection of social and environmental performance data for the period, 2016-2018, from a representative sample of European tanneries for the production of the 2nd Social & Environmental Report of the European Leather Industry. This follow-up publication to the 2012 Report will not only analyse the progress in the social & environmental performance of tanneries, but also the new tools and instruments produced by the EU sector for advancing on the path of sustainability. This will include the Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) for leather and the updated OiRA tool (On-line Interactive Risk Assessment) for assessing workplace health & safety risks in tanneries.
The project will also stage Workshops in a number of countries addressing issues of joint interest to the Social Partners at national level.
The collection of company and country reports for processing by COTANCE has started. Completed questionnaires have been anonymised before aggregation for subsequent analysis. The aim is to gather a representative sample from each participating country, from which to extrapolate valid conclusions for the EU tanning industry.
The Steering Committee met in the premises of industriAll-Europe on 8 July in Brussels. The Committee is reasonably satisfied with the progress achieved so far but calls on the sector’s companies who have not yet returned their filled in questionnaires not to delay their submission. The project partners are prepared to assist companies needing support in providing the requested information.
The next Steering Committee meeting will take place on 18 November.