Lowering carbon through circular manufacturing.
Lowest carbon leather
We make the world’s lowest-carbon leather. Since 2003, we have significantly reduced the carbon intensity of our leather per hide from 10.9kg CO₂e/m² to 1.4kg CO₂e/m² per hide in 2023 and we’re constantly innovating to improve on that even further. Our patented circular manufacturing process incorporates energy recovery, water re-use, renewable energy, locally sourced (and traceable) rawhides, and even a unique take-back scheme for end-of-life leather.
Carbon intensity
We reclaim energy from waste at our on-site thermal energy plant. And the energy we do buy in is 100% wind-derived. The carbon intensity of Muirhead leather is the lowest published anywhere in the world. Specifying Muirhead leather helps our clients to pursue their own low carbon targets.
State-of-the-art
Significant investments in circular manufacturing have made us arguably the most modern and environmentally-focused leather manufacturer in the world. As part of Scottish Leather Group, our facilities on-site include a thermal energy plant, a water ultrafiltration plant and a modern, cutting-edge tannery.
Circular manufacturing
Our patented thermal energy plant generates heat from our process waste to power our tannery. In normal use, we reclaim enough energy to heat 5,000 households. Through our unique take-back scheme for end-of-life leather we can even use old leather to power the making of new leather.
When it comes to electricity, we buy 100% from certified renewable and carbon neutral wind sources (100% REGO), and we’ve been doing it since 2017.
Life cycle analysis
We take pride in measuring and publishing our impacts. We use an ISO-accredited Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to account for our carbon footprint. The LCA quantifies the GWP100 (and other) impacts of all our direct activities, including the influence of upstream farming.
LCA measures impact of production as CO₂e/m², our LCA of 8kg is the lowest in the world published for leather.
View our latest
ESG Report
