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What do the high-quality leather seats of German luxury cars have to do with deforestation in the Amazon? This is revealed for the first time by extensive research Mr on. They show environmental violations and human rights violations.
It’s a huge business: every year Brazil exports around 500,000 tons of cowhide all over the world. This makes the country one of the main producers of leather. Almost half of this goes to international automobile companies – especially for leather seats that are installed in luxury cars. To meet the automotive industry’s global demand for leather, the hides of an estimated 50 to 60 million cattle are needed.
Millions of cattle are raised, processed and exported every year in Brazil’s Amazon regions. But space is limited – and so farmers also use cleared areas to keep their cattle. “You have to realize that we – even everyone who doesn’t want to be involved – are really the sources of the money that finances crime,” explains the director of the environmental organization Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Alexander von Bismarck.
Threats against the indigenous people
Deforestation, land theft, criminal involvement: these are environmental crimes from which Europe and Germany also benefit. And you can make a lot of money with business in the Brazilian protected areas: for example through timber extraction. Or by breeding cattle to produce cheap products such as leather and meat. Leather that also ends up in German luxury cars, according to research by Mr prove.
This has serious consequences for the residents of the affected Amazon region. Hunting for food is increasingly challenging for Iori and his Parakana men. Not because of the animals – the Parakana people are good at hunting. But they have to penetrate deeper and longer into the jungle in order to provide for their village community.
And there, in the protected Amazon region of Apyterewa, there are not only wild animals waiting. But also armed criminals who want to control the region: “We’ve been receiving threats for a long time. But it’s getting worse and worse. Now they’re constantly trying to intimidate us,” says the Parakana chief. Because the indigenous population is disturbing the illegal farmers in their land grabs. More and more valuable rainforest area is falling victim to clearing in order to raise cattle.
Data analysis proves “beef washing”
But how do the hides of illegally bred cattle become leather that can be traded legally on the international market? Using satellite images, photo analyzes and statistical evaluations, a team of investigators and data analysts from the American environmental organization EIA was able to prove how the cattle are “washed”.
The procedure is simple: By transporting the cattle back and forth between numerous farms after they have been raised, farmers hide the origin of the animals from the slaughter companies. This tactic makes it difficult to link illegal deforestation for rangeland to slaughterhouses, explains EIA team leader Rick Jacobsen.
He sees a structural problem: “The cattle industry in the Amazon has been recording huge growth rates for years. Slaughterhouses and tanneries are being built everywhere – right in the heart of these deforestation areas.”
Leather for BMW, Mercedes and VW
The “beef washing” system takes advantage of the complex and confusing supply chain. Supposedly “clean” cattle are sold to large slaughterhouses and factories. For example to JBS, one of the largest animal processing companies. This in turn supplies the US company Lear, one of the market leaders in car seat manufacturing. For years, its customers have included automobile companies such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and the Volkswagen Group.
At the request of Mr BMW, Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and the Volkswagen Group say they are in contact with the Lear Corporation about the allegations. Volkswagen refers to the “Code of Conduct” and the sustainability requirements for direct suppliers agreed therein. BMW announces that it is continuously reducing the purchase of leather from South America. And Mercedes also points to an initiative to work together with suppliers to create deforestation-free supply chains for leather.
How effective is that Supply chain law?
But can manufacturers rule out using Brazilian and even illegal leather in their cars? According to experts, digital tracking of the dermis could provide security – i.e. traceability from the animal to the final product. The first pilot projects are underway, for example at Mercedes-Benz.
But according to the German Supply Chain Act, which comes into force in 2023, they are not yet obliged to do so. So far, companies usually only have to check the direct supplier – in this case the US company Lear. This is controlled by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA). However, in the first year of the law, the office did not impose a single penalty.
For the Federal Development Ministry (BMZ), however, this does not mean that the Supply Chain Act is ineffective. “The law must also be evaluated: what works, what doesn’t yet work sufficiently, and there is a need for change here,” explains the responsible State Secretary Bärbel Kofler (SPD). But she also says: “We as the BMZ had more advanced ideas from the start.”
Environmental groups criticize the lack of liability
Environmental associations criticize the lack of civil liability for companies, as Tina Lutz from Deutsche Umwelthilfe explains: “The opportunity for those affected to get their rights and to seek compensation is of course a very strong means of forcing companies to take greater action to truly respect human rights and human rights to comply with environmental protection.”
The European supply chain law, which the EU member states surprisingly agreed on on March 15, 2024, would mean a tightening of the law – despite Germany’s abstention. Accordingly, transparency and compliance with human rights standards should be required from all suppliers in the future.
Above all, the planned civil liability of corporations could help the indigenous people in Apyterewa to defend themselves against crime and deforestation in their homeland. “We will not stop fighting for our forest. Because it is the future for our children and also the future for our entire planet,” says village leader Wenatoa Parakana.