Bridgestone advances renewable power effort at Japanese tire plants 

Tokyo – Bridgestone Corp. has switched 100% of the electricity sourced from outside providers to renewable energy to power four domestic tire plants in Japan.

The group’s production factories in Hikone, Tosu, Shimonoseki, and Kitakyushu are now powered by renewable resources such as hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind energy, Bridgestone announced 8 July. 

Bridgestone expects the changing of the energy source, as well as other initiatives carried out during 2020, to generate a 30% reduction in annual total CO2 emissions across all its 10 domestic tire plants, compared to the 2011 baseline.

The move is part of the group's carbon neutrality target and its goal to become sustainable solutions company by 2050. 

The group’s “milestone 2030” medium-term strategy eyes a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2011.

To achieve the targets, Bridgestone said it will continue to expand renewable energy use, improve tire production energy efficiency, and instal new solar power generation systems at all domestic tire factories through 2030.

In March Bridgestone Europe announced that it has completed the switch to renewable energy as the source of power for all of its business sites in Europe.

In addition, the group is currently installing solar power generation facilities at its plants in Aiken, South Carolina and Wuxi in China.