In a clear sign that the fur industry is seriously worried that we will successfully ban fur across the EU, they have developed their own ECI.

Despite the named promoters and all the declared funding coming from the fur trade itself, the word ‘fur’ is only mentioned once. Instead, the initiative calls to for ‘protection of rural heritage’ across the EU.

The attempts of the fur trade to hide the horrific cruelty of fur behind buzzwords such as ‘sustainability’, natural’ and ‘heritage’ is a familiar tactic. Similar approaches are being used in the United States and in the promotion of the Furmark label. This is unsurprising given that the fur industry regularly employs people who have experience working for industries with huge negative impacts, such as big tobacco and big oil.

Currently, after seven weeks, the fur trade’s ECI has 1090 signatures. By contrast, at times in December 2022, the Fur Free Europe ECI was attracting over 1000 signatures every five minutes.