Nokian’s ambitious emissions targets to affect 100 companies 

Nokia, Finland – Nokian Tyres plc has set out a series of ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets, which it says will impact over 100 different companies.

The new targets, introduced as part of Nokian’s plan to gain approval from the Science Based Targes initiative (SBTi), will include a 25% reduction in the CO2 emissions of Nokian tires over the next decade, compared to the 2018 levels. 

Laying out the ambitious targets in a 3 Dec article, the Finnish tire maker said the improvement in tire emissions would have “the largest impact” on reducing its global CO2 emissions, as its tires are used "on millions of vehicles".

Looking to “greatly extend” the impact of its operations, Nokian also aims to cut emissions from tire raw materials by 25% over the next 10 years, compared to the 2018 levels. 

“The production of the raw materials for tires currently generates four times as much CO2 emissions per tire than the manufacturing of the tires themselves,” the article said. 

To achieve the 25% reduction goal, Nokian noted that its raw material suppliers will need to “implement their own actions in order to reduce emissions.” 

Such changes, according to Nokian, typically include the transitioning of the suppliers to zero or low-emission energy and improving the energy efficiency of their entire production process. 

In addition, the tire maker said it had the option to favour raw materials that produce lower emissions when choosing materials and suppliers.

Nokian is also addressing another major contributor to CO2 emissions: the process of transporting raw materials and finished tires.

Here, the company aims to reduce emissions by 25% per tire between 2018 and 2030, consideirng options such as increasing the share of biofuels, improving the efficiency of engines, and optimising routes.

The “challenging target”, according to Nokian, will require a steady improvement of 2.4% per year.

As its fourth target, Nokian said it aimed to cut CO2 emissions from the energy that it purchases and produces by 52% per single tire between 2015 and 2030. 

The company said it has already achieved a part of this target with the changes made in recent years. 

A reduction of 52%, according to Nokian, means that most of its purchased energy should be “low-emission or zero-emission and produced with renewable forms of energy.”

Nokian said that it currently sources “nearly all” of the energy at its Nokia factory from renewable sources. 

“Our targets are ambitious, and all the means to achieve them are not currently known. However, when there is a will, there is usually a way,” Nokian concluded.