The Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) and China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) held a seminar on March 13, 2026 in Hong Kong during APLF 2026 to present interim results of leather life cycle assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint accounting. The event brought together researchers to share findings on leather sustainability.

At the seminar, Professor Yunhang Zeng from Sichuan University and Professor Greg Thoma from Colorado State University presented their studies titled “A Case Study on Integrating Chinese Tannery Data into LCA” and “LCA Methodology & Data Integrity in Leather Sustainability Assessment”, respectively.

The research shows that finished leather’s carbon footprint mainly comes from upstream animal husbandry and not from leather production. Only 4% to 40% of emissions come from the leather production process, while 60% to 96% comes from upstream allocation linked to animal farming.

The study states that without the leather industry, most hides and skins would go to landfill. This would increase emissions significantly. The leather industry is the most sustainable way to address global hide disposal and reduce carbon emissions from animal husbandry.

By reusing these materials, the global leather industry can reduce around 120 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions every year.

It also highlights that the carbon footprint of hides and skins in leather making is only 1% to 9.7% compared to landfill disposal.

Emissions from leather production remain much lower than those from dumping waste.

CLIA said the current method of allocating carbon footprint to hides from animal farming is unscientific and unfair. It urged stakeholders to reduce or even remove this allocation, considering leather’s role in avoiding landfill emissions.

CLIA will continue working with LHCA and other global institutions to improve carbon accounting methods across the animal husbandry value chain.