Leder

Leather.

Areas of application in the automotive industry.

  • Main areas of application: Seat covers, steering wheel, interior equipment options
  • Other areas of application: Lifestyle collections (e.g. wallets, bags, functional wear)

Raw-material-specific risks.

  • Negative environmental impacts as a result of deforestation, land use; loss of biodiversity due to agriculture and livestock farming
  • Contamination of soil and groundwater due to improper treatment of effluent from tanneries and livestock operations
  • Health and safety risks for tannery employees
  • Risk of human rights abuses; in particular, in livestock farming, slaughterhouses and tanneries
  • Animal welfare endangerment during husbandry, transport and slaughter

Measures taken by the BMW Group.

  • Pilot project with Sourcemap and Satelligence: Transparency all the way back to the origins of the raw material, using satellite data and big data analyses
  • Suppliers must adopt standards and best-practice methods to ensure animal welfare compliance
  • Commitment to ethical principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) and the FAWCs (the Five Freedoms of the Farm Animal Welfare Committee for assessing the welfare of animals, as well as the principles of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on animal welfare.
  • Certification of selected leather upholstery by the Leather Working Group (LWG)
  • Use of vegetable tanning agents – olive-tanned natural leather, incl. in BMW iX
  • Launch in 2023 of the first vehicles with a completely vegan interior

 

Initiatives.

  • Leather Working Group (LWG): BMW Group membership and participation in working groups to further develop robust, cross-industry sustainability standards for leather