Latest news with #Earthsight
Euractiv
3 days ago
- Business
- Euractiv
Laundered Russian timber chips into EU as states seek deforestation carve-outs
Suspect Russian and Belarusian wood is still entering the EU despite wartime sanctions, new data reveals, as several member states push to delay enforcement of the bloc's anti-deforestation law. In a letter sent to the European Commission last week, EU member states including Portugal, Estonia, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Czechia, Bulgaria, and Poland called for exemptions from the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is set to take effect in December. But new findings from NGO Earthsight show that many of these same countries continue to import birch plywood – a high-value wood product – from China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. These origins have been previously linked to the laundering of Russian timber products since the EU's sanctions on Russia and Belarus following the former's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 came into effect. Earthsight's latest analysis of new trade data until April 2025 builds on its earlier investigation, published in January, which found EU countries had imported €1.5 billion worth of Russian birch plywood since the start of sanctions in 2022. In March, the European Commission's sanctions unit (DG FISMA) warned that Russian and Belarusian timber producers were relabelling and rerouting through third countries to evade EU trade restrictions. Although Brussels imposed anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese hardwood plywood in June, including birch, NGOs argue the levy does not distinguish between birch and lower-risk hardwood species, and could therefore fail to stop exports. Between February and April this year, Spain – which has not requested EUDR exemptions – was the EU's top importer of suspect birch plywood, with shipments worth over €15 million in estimated retail value, Earthsight found. Portugal followed with more than €12 million, while Estonia imported nearly €10 million worth, mainly from Kazakhstan. However, Poland – the largest importer between 2022 and 2024 – has since significantly stepped up checks, leading to a sharp drop in imports from February this year. Spain's wood and furniture association has warned that continued Russian imports threaten domestic industry, echoing similar concerns raised by producers in Latvia and Poland. Eurostat data reviewed by Euractiv shows that prior to Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU imports of birch plywood from Kazakhstan and Georgia were nonexistent, while imports from China and Turkey were negligible in most member states. Political momentum The trade revelations come as political pressure mounts to weaken the EUDR – a flagship EU law aimed at stopping products linked to deforestation from entering the single market. Last week, the European Parliament adopted an EPP-led resolution rejecting the Commission's proposed risk classification and calling for a new "no-risk" category for countries with their own deforestation laws. Russia and Belarus are designated high-risk under the EUDR, but countries like Kazakhstan, China, Turkey, and Georgia – all flagged by NGOs – are currently classified as low-risk, along with all EU member states. Austrian MEP Thomas Waitz from the Greens group and a forester himself, warned that the no-risk category and a delay in implementation would undermine regime against Russia. 'The EPP needs to show up for Ukraine,' he said, referring to the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) Pascal Canfin, the lead negotiator on the regulation for the liberal Renew group, said calls to weaken the EUDR were 'a gift to countries like Russia' and undermine EU sovereignty. The EUDR includes stricter traceability rules than existing timber laws and was designed to close known loopholes. But Earthsight argues that the proposed 'no risk' category – backed by 18 farming ministers and the European Parliament – could make EUDR even weaker than current rules. EPP MEP Alexander Bernhuber, who leads the push to exempt some EU countries from EUDR obligations with the new risk category, said the regulation should not be used to enforce sanctions. '[Circumvention] is already a criminal offence that must be prosecuted with full force,' he told Euractiv, adding that what is needed are 'stricter controls at the EU's external borders and enforcement of existing sanction regulations.' 'It cannot be the case that with the EUDR we punish those who practice sustainable and responsible forestry,' he added. (adm, de)
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Luxury Fashion Doing Enough to Source Deforestation-Free Leather?
Accessible luxury brand Coach is buying leather from suppliers linked to illegal cattle ranches in the most deforested parts of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, where United Nations climate talks are scheduled to take place in November, according to an investigation published Monday by Earthsight. The environmental nonprofit said it analyzed court rulings, satellite imagery, shipment records and went undercover to tie the Tapestry-owned firm to Frigol, a Brazilian meatpacking giant that it says has an 'egregious record' of cattle purchases connected with environmental and Indigenous rights abuses. More from Sourcing Journal Innovation is Taking Root, Canopy's Hot Button Impact Assessment Reports Why Tapestry and CLO are Extending Coach Play's Co-Creation Concept to a Design Contest Capri Holdings Plots Turnaround After Steep Q4 Losses Frigol said that its procurement policy is in line with monitoring protocols for sourcing cattle developed by Imaflora, a forest and agricultural nonprofit, and Brazil's public prosecutor's office. While land clearance for cattle ranching is the biggest driver of deforestation across the South American nation, Earthsight said, the worst-affected state is that of Pará, where 18.6 million hectares, an area nearly double the size of Portugal, has been torched over the past 20 years, often without legal authorization. The Brazilian government, which has pledged to eliminate deforestation by 2030, picked the Pará capital of Belém as the site for what is colloquially known as COP30, the first of its kind to be held in a rainforest. Because of the hot-button nature of sourcing Brazilian leather, several brands have banned the commodity altogether. Among them is Timberland owner VF Corp., which made the decision following the country's slow response in battling unprecedented wildfires that destroyed thousands of square miles of rainforest in 2019. Both H&M and Nike also have policies against sourcing leather from the Amazon biome. While Coach hasn't nixed Brazil from its sourcing map, its parent company is a founding signatory of Textile Exchange and the Leather Working Group's 2022 Deforestation-Free Call to Action for Leather, which 'challenges' brands to commit to sourcing their leather from verified deforestation-free supply chains by 2030—if not earlier. Tapestry said at the time that it was working toward achieving 95 percent traceability and mapping of its raw materials by 2025, including by endowing the World Wildlife Fund with a $3 million grant to improve the traceability of Brazil's leather value chain. Roughly 80 percent of Brazilian leather is exported overseas. Pará's top exporter of leather to Europe is Durlicouros, a tannery that obtains its hides from Frigo. Earthsight said that nearly a quarter of Durlicouros's leather exports from Pará to Italy are purchased by Conceria Cristina and Faeda, two tanneries in the Veneto region that supply to prominent names in the automotive, interior design and fashion sectors. Investigators posing as interested buyers were told by Conceria Cristina that they supply leather to Coach. A Conceria Cristina representative told Earthsight that Coach regularly uses hides from Brazil. Paolo Zeggio, head of sustainability at Faeda, pushed back at the allegations, characterizing Durlicouros as a 'minor' supplier that provides fewer than 0.1 percent of its hides. Faeda doesn't use Brazilian leather for luxury brands due to the 'poor quality' of the raw material, he said. Zeggio also described leather as a 'scrap of the food industry' that isn't fueling deforestation. Durlicouros told Earthsight that its operations comply with Brazilian laws and responsible sourcing practices. Conceria Cristina did not respond to a request for comment. While Earthsight said it cannot be completely sure that the leather in Coach's products originates from cattle reared illegally in the Amazon, its use of Brazilian leather and two suppliers with value chains 'exposed to these harms' risks making its customers 'complicit' in deforestation and Indigenous rights violations. It said that Coach should be 'embarrassed' by the results of its probe, particularly in light of the Coachtopia purveyor's refocused marketing on 'unusually selective and environmentally conscious' Gen Z customers who were born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s. 'Tapestry's values dictate that we stay true to [the] principles and practices of responsible sourcing across our full value chain, including the small proportion of leather sourced from Brazil—less than 10 percent of total leather used in our products,' a spokesperson said in a statement. 'We recognize that the system for tracking raw materials in Brazil is complex and imperfect; however, Tapestry is working to be part of the solution to improve traceability and transparency through our programs with WWF and other organizations.' Experts agree that tracing a hide's provenance is trickier than it might appear at first blush. Though many brands, including Coach, rely on certifications as a means to 'sustainably source' leather, nearly all of them offer visibility only at the tannery level. Everything else upstream falls under the meat industry, a wholly disparate value chain that is essentially walled off from the fashion sector. 'One of the key criticisms we would have of Leather Working Group is that it doesn't extend to the ranches,' said Lara Shirra White, a campaigner for Latin America at Earthsight. This is something the organization has been grappling with, said Debbie Burton, the Leather Working Group's director of communications. Despite recognizing the importance of transparency within the leather supply chain, along with the need to address complex issues such as deforestation and land-use change, the organization is also 'clear and transparent' about the remit of its certification. 'Our standards framework is designed to assess environmental compliance and performance within leather manufacturing facilities, and while it includes requirements around traceability and sourcing, it does not currently require full traceability to the farm level,' she said. 'To that end, we have been actively working with a dedicated and diverse group of stakeholders, including international NGOs, industry experts and brands who share our commitment to finding practical and effective ways to measure and report on the challenges resulting from leather being a byproduct in a complex supply-chain that starts with the food industry.' Partnering with Textile Exchange aside, the Leather Working Group has partnered with the National Wildlife Federation, World Wildlife Fund and the Gibbs Land Use and Environment Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to map the impacts of leather production on deforestation. The Brazilian leather industry, through the Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry, told Sourcing Journal that it is opposed to illegal deforestation and 'acts proactively to promote better environmental, social and economic practices.' 'Brazilian leather is produced in accordance with national legislation, with continuous investments in improving monitoring and control systems, including those concerning indirect suppliers,' a spokesperson said. 'In Brazil, traceability is treated as a priority by both governments and lawmakers. In the state of Pará, for example, the local government implements the sustainable livestock program of Pará, which includes the official individual bovine traceability system, aimed at individually identifying all cattle and buffaloes all across the state by 2026.' Even so, one challenge is that the leather sector has limited leverage in the beef supply chain because the value of hides represents just 1 percent of slaughterhouse revenue, said Fernando Bellese, senior director of beef and leather supply chains at the World Wildlife Fund. He also said that disinvesting from problematic regions like Brazil doesn't help address the problem but could rather exacerbate it. It is only by working collectively that companies in this sector have the chance to be 'part of the solution,' Bellese added. 'It is important that companies buying from high-risk areas commit to implementing deforestation-free supply chains, and go beyond, by working together to scale the solutions needed,' he said. Earthsight's report doesn't only implicate Coach in terms of potential exposure. It says that Fendi, Chloé and Hugo Boss all purchase leather from both Faeda and Conceria Cristina. Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Kering's Balenciaga and Gucci, it added, are among Faeda's clients, while Saint Laurent, also owned by Kering, is supplied by Conceria Cristina. Though Chanel, Kering and Fendi didn't respond to requests for comment, they told Earthsight that the hides they bought from the tanneries didn't hail from Brazil. Chanel also said that it ended its partnership with Faeda at the start of 2024 because the tannery no longer met its traceability requirements. (Zeggio from Faeda said that Chanel raised no such concerns.) A spokesperson from Hugo Boss said that a detailed review confirmed that none of the leather it has received from it tanneries is connected with Durlicuoros. As part of its traceability efforts, the company will also require all direct Tier 2 leather suppliers to provide farm-level data in line with the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, which will take effect by the end of 2025. But Earthsight says that brands are currently unprepared for the EUDR. That is, unless the leather lobby—which, like Zeggio from Faeda, claims no direct link between leather and deforestation—is successful in excluding the material. Despite the opacity and complexity of Brazil's cattle supply chains 'being known for years,' it said, 'corporations and certification schemes have preferred to paper over these current problems rather than address them.' Chloé was the only company that detailed methods that could allow it to adequately verify claims from Conceria Cristina and Faeda, Earthsight added. White disagreed with portrayals of leather as a byproduct and 'faultless commodity' that saves materials that would otherwise go into the landfill. It's also a 'key economic driver' for the expansion of cattle ranching into high-risk deforestation regions like Brazil, she said. If the biggest brands can't get it right, White said, then what chance do other, lower-cachet ones have of doing so? 'All brands have a responsibility to provide guaranteed supply chain due diligence,' she said. 'The thing about luxury brands is that they put themselves as a kind of gold standard of sustainability. And I think that consumers, when they spend the amount of money that they do on these products, assume that it would come with a safety net against buying products that can be traced back to deforestation or human rights abuses. I think that this case, as well as other cases that have come out against luxury brands in the past year, demonstrate that these names don't protect consumers against illegalities.'
Time of India
07-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Are designer handbags linked to illegal deforestation?
AI- Generated Image Designer brands such as Coach, Fendi and Hugo Boss have been listed as buyers of raw materials sourced from destroyed forests in Para, the northern Brazilian state set to host the UN Climate Conference, COP30, in November. The allegations, which most companies have denied, are detailed in a report published by Earthsight, a UK-based non profit focused on environmental and injustice investigations. Their findings draw on thousands of records of Brazilian leather exports, data on the cattle sector, court rulings and satellite imagery, as well as interviews and on-the-ground research. "Consumers probably expect that when buying a luxury product, the high price tag guarantees some level of ethics and sustainability," Lara Shirra White, an Earthsight researcher, told DW. "They don't expect that the leather bag might be linked to deforestation and human rights violations." The NGO warns of products made from the hides of cattle reared on farms embargoed for environmental violations, including some operating illegally within Para's Apyterewa Indigenous Territory, which was heavily deforested during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro from 2019 to 2022. As part of its research, Earthsight investigated the business operations of Frigol, a Brazilian meatpacking company identified as one of the buyers of cattle raised on the territory. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trending in in 2025: Local network access control [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo The report says at least 17,000 animals were sold to Frigol between 2020 and 2023, which is "enough to produce 425 tons of leather." Researchers linked some of those cattle to illegal farms but said it's not possible to determine the exact number that left Apyterewa, in part because Frigol itself "does not trace most of its indirect suppliers." The report says this gap in reporting leaves the company's "supply chain vulnerable to the widespread practice of 'cattle laundering,'" in which cows from illegal farms are transferred to legally registered properties before being sold. Paulo Barreto, senior researcher at the Brazilian conservation and sustainable development Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon, Imazon, said control over indirect suppliers is either nonexistent or incomplete. "As a result, cattle raised in illegally deforested areas end up entering the market as if they were legal. The lack of a transparent public system regarding the origin of the cattle makes control difficult." Frigol, however, told DW via email that it does not purchase cattle from Indigenous lands and monitors 100% of its direct suppliers. "We are committed to working together with industry institutions, the production chain and public authorities to make progress," the company said in a statement. It added that it believes "only individual traceability of animals for socio-environmental purposes will make it possible to mitigate deforestation across all links of the cattle supply chain." Brazilian leather, Italian prestige According to Earthsight's research, after the animals are slaughtered at Frigol's facilities, a percentage of cow skins are exported, in part by the Brazilian leather company Durlicouros, which shipped 14,700 tons of hide to Italy between 2020 and 2023. Some of that, the report found, went to the Italian tanneries Conceria Cristina and Faeda. The research lists high-end names like Coach, Fendi, Chloé, Hugo Boss and Saint Laurent among Conceria Cristina's clients. Faeda, meanwhile, provides leather to brands such as Chanel, Balenciaga and Gucci, according to the investigation. In response to a DW request for comment, Chanel cited deforestation as a "major concern" and said it no longer works with Faeda due to unmet traceability requirements: "92% of the calfskin we use is sourced from Europe, and we audit slaughterhouses and farms outside Europe to ensure they are not in deforestation zones. The Kering Group, which owns Balenciaga, Gucci, and Saint Laurent, told DW that while the two Italian companies mentioned in the report are suppliers, "the leather they provide to any Kering house does not come from Brazil." Based on Earthsight's findings, Hugo Boss issued a statement to say it had conducted a detailed review, and could "confirm that none of the leather" it is supplied with "is connected to any of the alleged parties in connection with the investigation." LVMH, which owns Fendi and Louis Vuitton, said it has a system capable of tracing the origin of 98% of the leather used in its products and that it does not source this from South America. And Tapestry, which owns the Coach brand, wrote to DW saying that while the system for tracking raw materials in Brazil is "complex and imperfect," it is working to be "part of the solution to improve traceability and transparency." Chloé, Conceria Cristina and Faeda had not responded to a DW request for comment at the time of publication. Flaws in the certification system Durlicouros told DW that it tracks its indirect suppliers and participates in discussions on state and national models for full traceability and compliance. "In addition, all Durlicouros facilities are certified by the Leather Working Group (LWG), ensuring high standards of sustainability, traceability, and environmental responsibility, according to the purpose of each facility." But Earthsight researcher Lara Shirra White said companies often use the certification to vouch for the ethics and sustainability of the leather they produce "instead of conducting meaningful due diligence themselves to ensure their supply chains are deforestation-free." She said the problem with the LWG, founded in 2005, is that "it does not require traceability back to the farms," and can therefore not account for environmental and human rights abuses in the areas where the cattle are raised. The LWG told DW it is enhancing its "due diligence requirements related to deforestation and land conversion," which will "include establishing a chain of custody system that would support more detailed traceability across the leather value chain." Can a shift come via Europe? There is some hope that the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) could make a contribution to change. Due to come into effect at the end of this year after a 12-month delay, it will ban the purchase of products originating from destroyed forest areas. "We hope the law will be implemented on schedule, despite certain sectors of the industry still trying, in some way, to exclude leather from the scope of the legislation," Rafael Pieroni, a researcher at Earthsight, told DW. However, he said the report also contains a message for the Brazilian government. "It should implement traceability and make all data public. Transparency is the best way to avoid all the illegalities we are exposing in our investigation," he said.
Times of Oman
29-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Are designer handbags linked to illegal deforestation?
London: Designer brands such as Coach, Fendi and Hugo Boss have been listed as buyers of raw materials sourced from destroyed forests in Para, the northern Brazilian state set to host the UN Climate Conference, COP30, in November. The allegations, which most companies have denied, are detailed in a report published by Earthsight, a UK-based nonprofit focused on environmental and injustice investigations. Their findings draw on thousands of records of Brazilian leather exports, data on the cattle sector, court rulings and satellite imagery, as well as interviews and on-the-ground research. "Consumers probably expect that when buying a luxury product, the high price tag guarantees some level of ethics and sustainability," Lara Shirra White, an Earthsight researcher, told DW. "They don't expect that the leather bag might be linked to deforestation and human rights violations." The NGO warns of products made from the hides of cattle reared on farms embargoed for environmental violations, including some operating illegally within Para's Apyterewa Indigenous Territory, which was heavily deforested during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro from 2019 to 2022. As part of its research, Earthsight investigated the business operations of Frigol, a Brazilian meatpacking company identified as one of the buyers of cattle raised on the territory. The report says at least 17,000 animals were sold to Frigol between 2020 and 2023, which is "enough to produce 425 tonnes of leather." Researchers linked some of those cattle to illegal farms but said it's not possible to determine the exact number that left Apyterewa, in part because Frigol itself "does not trace most of its indirect suppliers." The report says this gap in reporting leaves the company's "supply chain vulnerable to the widespread practice of 'cattle laundering,'" in which cows from illegal farms are transferred to legally registered properties before being sold. Paulo Barreto, senior researcher at the Brazilian conservation and sustainable development Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon, Imazon, said control over indirect suppliers is either nonexistent or incomplete. "As a result, cattle raised in illegally deforested areas end up entering the market as if they were legal. The lack of a transparent public system regarding the origin of the cattle makes control difficult." Frigol, however, told DW via email that it does not purchase cattle from Indigenous lands and monitors 100% of its direct suppliers. "We are committed to working together with industry institutions, the production chain and public authorities to make progress," the company said in a statement. It added that it believes "only individual traceability of animals for socio-environmental purposes will make it possible to mitigate deforestation across all links of the cattle supply chain." Brazilian leather, Italian prestige According to Earthsight's research, after the animals are slaughtered at Frigol's facilities, a percentage of cow skins are exported, in part by the Brazilian leather company Durlicouros, which shipped 14,700 tonnes of hide to Italy between 2020 and 2023. Some of that, the report found, went to the Italian tanneries Conceria Cristina and Faeda. The research lists high-end names like Coach, Fendi, Chloé, Hugo Boss and Saint Laurent among Conceria Cristina's clients. Faeda, meanwhile, provides leather to brands such as Chanel, Balenciaga and Gucci, according to the investigation. In response to a DW request for comment, Chanel cited deforestation as a "major concern" and said it no longer works with Faeda due to unmet traceability requirements: "92% of the calfskin we use is sourced from Europe, and we audit slaughterhouses and farms outside Europe to ensure they are not in deforestation zones." The Kering Group, which owns Balenciaga, Gucci, and Saint Laurent, told DW that while the two Italian companies mentioned in the report are suppliers, "the leather they provide to any Kering house does not come from Brazil." Based on Earthsight's findings, Hugo Boss issued a statement to say it had conducted a detailed review, and could "confirm that none of the leather" it is supplied with "is connected to any of the alleged parties in connection with the investigation." LVMH, which owns Fendi and Louis Vuitton, said it has a system capable of tracing the origin of 98% of the leather used in its products and that it does not source this from South America. And Tapestry, which owns the Coach brand, wrote to DW saying that while the system for tracking raw materials in Brazil is "complex and imperfect," it is working to be "part of the solution to improve traceability and transparency." Chloé, Conceria Cristina and Faeda had not responded to a DW request for comment at the time of publication. Flaws in the certification system Durlicouros told DW that it tracks its indirect suppliers and participates in discussions on state and national models for full traceability and compliance. "In addition, all Durlicouros facilities are certified by the Leather Working Group (LWG), ensuring high standards of sustainability, traceability, and environmental responsibility, according to the purpose of each facility." But Earthsight researcher Lara Shirra White said companies often use the certification to vouch for the ethics and sustainability of the leather they produce "instead of conducting meaningful due diligence themselves to ensure their supply chains are deforestation-free." She said the problem with the LWG, founded in 2005, is that "it does not require traceability back to the farms," and can therefore not account for environmental and human rights abuses in the areas where the cattle are raised. The LWG told DW it is enhancing its "due diligence requirements related to deforestation and land conversion," which will "include establishing a chain of custody system that would support more detailed traceability across the leather value chain." Can a shift come via Europe? There is some hope that the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) could make a contribution to change. Due to come into effect at the end of this year after a 12-month delay, it will ban the purchase of products originating from destroyed forest areas. "We hope the law will be implemented on schedule, despite certain sectors of the industry still trying, in some way, to exclude leather from the scope of the legislation," Rafael Pieroni, a researcher at Earthsight, told DW. However, he said the report also contains a message for the Brazilian government. "It should implement traceability and make all data public. Transparency is the best way to avoid all the illegalities we are exposing in our investigation," he said.
DW
26-06-2025
- Business
- DW
Are designer handbags linked to illegal deforestation? – DW – 06/26/2025
Leather from cattle raised in deforested areas and on Indigenous land in the northern Brazilian state of Pará is being turned into luxury items in Italy, according to an investigation. Designer brands such as Coach, Fendi, and Hugo Boss have been listed as buyers of raw materials sourced from destroyed forests in Pará, the northern Brazilian state set to host the UN Climate Conference, COP30, in November. The allegations, which most companies deny, are detailed in a report published by Earthsight, a UK-based nonprofit focused on environmental and injustice investigations. Their findings draw on thousands of records of Brazilian leather exports, data on the cattle sector, court rulings, satellite imagery, as well as interviews and on-the-ground research. "Consumers probably expect that when buying a luxury product, the high price tag guarantees some level of ethics and sustainability," Lara Shirra White, an Earthsight researcher told DW. "They don't expect that the leather bag might be linked to deforestation and human rights violations." The NGO warns of products made from the hides of cattle reared on farms embargoed for environmental violations. Including some operating illegally within Pará's Apyterewa Indigenous Territory, which was heavily deforested during Jair Bolsonaro's presidency. As part of its research, Earthsight investigated the business operations of Frigol, a Brazilian meatpacking company identified as one of the buyers of cattle raised on the territory. The report says at least 17,000 animals were sold to Frigol between 2020 and 2023, which is "enough to produce 425 tons of leather." Researchers link some of those cattle to illegal farms but say it is not possible to determine the exact number that left Apyterewa, in part because Frigol itself "does not trace most of its indirect suppliers." It says this gap in reporting leaves the company's "supply chain vulnerable to the widespread practice of 'cattle laundering,'" in which cows from illegal farms are transferred to legally registered properties before being sold. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Paulo Barreto, senior researcher at the Brazilian conservation and sustainable development Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) said control over indirect suppliers is either non-existent or incomplete. "As a result, cattle raised in illegally deforested areas end up entering the market as if they were legal. The lack of a transparent public system regarding the origin of the cattle makes control difficult." Frigol, however, told DW via email that it does not purchase cattle from Indigenous lands and monitors 100% of its direct suppliers. "We are committed to working together with industry institutions, the production chain, and public authorities to make progress," the company said in a statement. Adding that it believes "only individual traceability of animals for socio-environmental purposes will make it possible to mitigate deforestation across all links of the cattle supply chain." According to the Earthsight research, after the animals are slaughtered at Frigol's facilities, a percentage of cowskins are exported. In part by the Brazilian leather company Durlicouros, which shipped 14,700 tons of hide to Italy between 2020 and 2023. Some of that, the report found, went to the European tanneries Conceria Cristina and Faeda. The research lists high-end names like Coach, Fendi, Chloé, Hugo Boss and Saint Lauren among Conceria Cristina's clients. Faeda, meanwhile, provides leather to brands such as Chanel, Balenciaga and Gucci, according to the investigation. In response to a DW request for comment, Chanel cited deforestation as a "major concern" and said it no longer works with Faeda due to unmet traceability requirements. "92% of the calfskin we use is sourced from Europe, and we audit slaughterhouses and farms outside Europe to ensure they are not in deforestation zones." The Kering Group, which owns Balenciaga, Gucci, and Saint Laurent, told DW that while the two Italian companies mentioned in the report are suppliers, "the leather they provide to any Kering house does not come from Brazil." Based on Earthsight's findings, Hugo Boss issued a statement to say it had conducted a detailed review, and could "confirm that none of the leather" it is supplied "is connected to any of the alleged parties in connection with the investigation." LVMH, which owns Fendi and Louis Vuitton, says it has a system capable of tracing the origin of 98% of the leather used in its products and that it does not source this from South America. And Tapestry, which owns the Coach brand, wrote to DW saying that while the system for tracking raw materials in Brazil is "complex and imperfect," it is working to be "part of the solution to improve traceability and transparency." Chloé, Conceria Cristina and Faeda had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication. Durlicouros told DW that it tracks its indirect suppliers and participates in discussions on state and national models for full traceability and compliance."In addition, all Durlicouros facilities are certified by the Leather Working Group (LWG), ensuring high standards of sustainability, traceability, and environmental responsibility, according to the purpose of each facility." But Earthsight researcher Lara Shirra White said companies often use the certification to vouch for the ethics and sustainability of the leather they produce "instead of conducting meaningful due diligence themselves to ensure their supply chains are deforestation-free." She says the problem with the LWG, founded in 2005, is that "it does not require traceability back to the farms," and can therefore not account for environmental and human rights abuses in the areas where the cattle are raised. The LWG told DW it is enhancing its "due diligence requirements related to deforestation and land conversion,' which will "include establishing a chain of custody system that would support more detailed traceability across the leather value chain." There is some hope that the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) could make a contribution to change. Due to come into effect at the end of this year after a 12-month delay, it will ban the purchase of products originating from destroyed forest areas. "We hope the law will be implemented on schedule, despite certain sectors of the industry still trying, in some way, to exclude leather from the scope of the legislation," Rafael Pieroni, a researcher at Earthsight, told DW. But he said the report also contains a message for the Brazilian government. "It should implement traceability and make all data public. Transparency is the best way to avoid all the illegalities we are exposing in our investigation."
