Environmentally friendly leather made in China

The LITE concept applies to all leathers being produced at their tannery, where they are measuring every possible production stage and its environmental impact. They are measuring CO2 emissions and found that, just by doing this, they have reduced their emissions by 30%. The tannery has more than 900 employees and is one of the leading suppliers of leathers to globally recognised brands such as Timberland, Keen, Rockport, ECCO and Cole Haan. Over the past few years, ISA have made numerous investments into various human rights and environmental activities and have launched a programme in China where handicapped workers are being taught how to make various items using leathers made by ISA. Green Tanners of China ISA's CEO, Thomas Schneider, also founded the Green Tanners Association of China. This group has been working to improve conditions in all tanneries, and is supported by a high profile mixture of other foreign investment tanneries. ‘It is our job to provide our customers with environmental friendly leathers as well as our social responsibility to actively work for better environmental conditions', says Schneider. The foundation of the GTC (Green Tanners Association of China) was initiated by ISA Tan Tec in November 2006. Members are tanners in the automotive, furniture and shoe leather sectors. Schneider is the chairman of the GTC. Heat recovery  Further steps to reduce the impact to environment include recovery of heat through a system of recycling. The first prototype is scheduled for launch by the end of October 2007. This experiment will provide them with the data for measuring real reduction in energy consumption levels. The impact will create energy savings when full implementation occurs. Even though the amount of oil necessary for the boiler is reduced, they still require fossil fuels for operations. They are developing equipment to clean the exhaust as well as recycle generated heat. Their aim is to have the prototype installed by the end of 2007. ‘Currently 15% of our waters are recycled and we know we can do better!' In September 2007, with the support of the German government, they began intensive research on water recycling for the process. Their target is to recycle 30% of process water by 2008. Using plants for water purification is a low cost and environmental friendly procedure since no electricity or chemicals are needed. They are running a pilot plant for studies on this technique. The company are driven by the conviction that controlling the greenhouse effect is the major environmental issue for the future. Through the use of alternative renewable sources of energy, equipment, chemicals, recycling, and the latest available technology in leather manufacturing, ISA can now offer the market materials which have the highest performance necessary, while drastically reducing CO2 emissions during the manufacturing process. The development and promotion of the LITE Leather project is part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programme implemented by ISA Industrial with support from DEG - Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH - one of Europe's largest development finance institutions (http://www.deginvest.de/EN_Home/index.jsp). Environmental protection is one of the key targets within the Sino-German development cooperation. Furthermore, the mitigation of greenhouse gases is a major challenge for the future. Energy and water-intensive industries such as tanneries can play an important role in environmental protection and emission reductions. By initialising best practice examples and exemplary innovative solutions among affected industries, the project intends to encourage further tanneries to imitate selected measures for improving their impacts to the environment. Because of the structural and broad effects expected to go far beyond the premises of ISA Industrial and to have positive environmental and, therefore, developmental impacts, DEG co-finances the project with PPP funds provided by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Steps to achieve production with a Low Impact To Environment:

• 30% of the hot water consumed in production processes will be generated through solar heating
• An additional 35% of hot water is obtained from cooling devices of existing production equipment
• Low temperature drying equipment ensures less energy consumption for heat creation. Less energy = less CO2
• The ISA tannery only uses energy saving light sources. In addition, 86% of their finishing equipment uses the latest application technology. Lighter coats and the elimination of gas emissions result in a drastic reduction in the energy needed for drying as well as eliminating air pollution.

Newly available tanning equipment and chemicals technology are making it possible for a 40% reduction in processing water. They are also realising a reduction of 50% in electricity. Their water consumption is recorded and analysed daily. If action is necessary, they can implement corrections based on predefined budgets. At ISA they have reduced water consumption by disciplined training and constant review of their processes. ISO 14064 In addition, ISA has undergone ISO 14064 compliance. New ISO 14064 standards provide tools for assessing and supporting greenhouse gas reduction and emissions trading. The ISO 14064 standards for greenhouse gas accounting and verification, published on March 1, 2006, by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) provide government and industry with an integrated set of tools for programmers aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as for emissions trading. ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden commented: ‘Claims made about reductions of the greenhouse gas emissions widely held responsible for climate change may have political and financial implications, in addition to environmental and technical ones. Ensuring their credibility is thus vital.' ISO launched the development of ISO 14064 in 2002 as a solution to the problems posed by the fact that governments, business corporations and voluntary initiatives were using a number of approaches to account for organization- and project-level GHG emissions and removals with no generally accepted validation or verification protocols. Dr Chan Kook Weng, convenor of the ISO working group that developed the standard explained: ‘ISO's goal is to provide a set of unambiguous and verifiable requirements or specifications to support organisations and proponents of GHG emission reduction projects. ISO 14064 will provide clarity and consistency between those reporting GHG emissions and stakeholders.' In order to produce an accounting and verification tool that would have broad international backing, ISO embarked on three years of detailed study and engagement with the international community of governmental and business organisations with a stake in climate change. ISO 14064 has resulted from the work of some 175 international experts from 45 countries and eleven international business, development or environmental organisations plus eight international meetings. Kevin Boehmer, secretary of the ISO working group, commented: ‘We are confident that ISO 14064 will prove to be an important building block for organisations or project proponents participating in various voluntary or regulatory initiatives, or to administrators responsible for designing and implementing GHG schemes or programmes.' Implementing ISO 14064 is intended to achieve the following benefits:

• promote consistency, transparency and credibility in GHG quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification
• enable organizations to identify and manage GHG-related liabilities, assets and risks
• facilitate the trade of GHG allowances or credits
• support the design, development and implementation of comparable and consistent GHG schemes or programmes.