2007 Challenge Bibendum under way in Shanghai

Shanghai, China - The 2007 edition of Challenge Bibendum-Group Michelin's annual gathering of “sustainable mobility” afficionados-got under way on 14 Nov. in Shanghai under the shadow of increasing concern about global climate change and $100-a-barrel oil.

“This world is rapidly urbanising and increasingly energy hungry,” Michelin Chairman Michel Rollier told attendees. “It is also showing more and more irrefutable signs of global warming, and we cannot continue to accept the human and social costs of road accidents.

“It must be our legacy to present and future generations that as far as road transport is concerned we have made the correct analysis of the issues, and that we have rightfully and forcefully acted on them.”

In addition to the dozens of demonstration vehicles and technologies on display, the 2007 Challenge Bibendum is being held jointly with a number of other organisations with similar or overlapping missions, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (pan-Asian meeting on biofuels), the World Health Organisation (road safety), and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (transport).

Michelin describes Challenge Bibendum as an “independent, impartial forum for sustainable mobility where panels of experts, from the private and public sectors, debate, discuss and share visions.” The company points out there are five key challenges to address: climate change, energy, local pollution, road safety and urban traffic congestion.

This is the ninth Challenge Bibendum. Shanghai hosted once before, in 2004.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)