Michelin in “eco-friendly” NR deals

Paris – Michelin has inked an international deal to produce eco-friendly natural rubber in Indonesia and has also signed a deal with WWF to promote best practices in sustainable natural rubber production.

The French group and Barito Pacific Group (BPG) created a joint-venture in Indonesia for reforestation and production of natural rubber, Michelin said 19 May.

The joint-venture will be owned 53 percent by BPG and 47 percent by Michelin, with Michelin's contribution to the joint-venture amounting to $55 million (€49.1 million).

“The project involves the reforestation of three concessions, representing a total surface area of 88,000 hectares, ravaged by uncontrolled deforestation,” said Michelin.

On half of these areas, situated respectively in the provinces of Jambi, Sumatra and North-East Kalimantan-Timur, Borneo, rubber trees will be planted to produce around 80 kilotonnes per annum of natural rubber.

The other half of these areas will be earmarked for re-creating a natural environment and community crops.

This project, said the company, will ultimately create more than 16,000 direct or indirect long-term and stable local jobs.

The French group added that it had also entered into a four-year partnership with the World Wide Fund (WWF) as part of its practice to promote sustainable natural rubber production.

The agreement, signed on 24 April by Michelin CEO Jean-Dominique Senard and Marco Lambertini, president of WWF International includes the following stated goals:

• A global partnership involving the promotion of best practices in rubber tree plantation and the extraction and transformation of latex, among the international bodies representing the rubber industry.
• A partnership with WWF France and Panda WWF Indonesia for researching and establishing the best possible solutions in the plantation zones, with the WWF having presence on concessions bordering those of Michelin/Barito in Jambi. To better address the CSR aspects of the project, Michelin and Barito Pacific Group have put in place a specific governance body of which WWF will be part of. The local coordination between Michelin, Barito and the WWF also aims to protect the Tigapuluh National Park and Limau Protected Forest, which are today under threat of deforestation.
• A targeted partnership with the WWF France Foundation involving protection, conservation and restoration operations for the fauna and flora within and around the concession zones.