The Leather Working Group’s flagship environmental certification is evolving, with the release of an updated auditing standard for leather manufacturers, featuring more robust criteria and new social, traceability and chemical management requirements.
After a six-month period, Protocol 7.0 will replace the existing Protocol 6.7 from 22 August 2021, becoming mandatory across all audits of leather manufacturing facilities.
Some of the major changes in Protocol 7.0 include:
Chemical Management: The LWG Chemical Management Module, previously a standalone assessment, has been fully integrated into the main audit protocol. New requirements are fully aligned with AFIRM’s risk based RSL for leather. Additionally, all LWG certified members have been granted free access to the ZDHC Gateway, that they will be able to use during an audit to demonstrate their MRSL compliance.
Traceability: The existing traceability section has undergone significant revision and now becomes an integrated scored section, with additional due
diligence measures to tackle deforestation risk. This has been developed in collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation. It also included additional levels of traceability to start assessing a broader scope for leather traceability.
Social Responsibility: For the first time, LWG will recognize third-party social audit certifications as a scored element in the protocol. LWG recognize this is a
critical element of responsible sourcing and we will now be covering both the environment and social responsibility with the LWG audit.
Effluent Treatment: Management of all waste and discharges to the environment are a critical part of the LWG assessment as they impact the environment directly. For P7, LWG introduced stricter requirements for the treatment of effluent and differentiate LWG criteria between direct discharge from on-site effluent treatment plants and indirect discharge from central and municipal effluent treatment plants. source: www.leatherworkinggroup.com
