Bridgestone announces first ‘carbon neutral’ tire plant

Tokyo – Bridgestone has announced that its tire manufacturing site in Pune, western India is the group's first to be verified as carbon neutral in production activities (scopes 1 and 2*).

The facility in Chakan was audited in May and June 2023, and verified to international PAS 2060 standard for the year 2022 by global assurance firm, LRQA, said Bridgestone 12 Sept.

According to the Japanese group, the Pune facility produces more than 4 million tires per year and has reduced its total carbon footprint by 94% “over the years".

Emissions were cut via measures including the deployment of solar panels and use of biomass-based boiler plant, fuelled by briquettes made from agricultural waste.

Furthermore, Bridgestone offsets the nearly 3 kilotonnes of CO2 emissions at the site via purchase of verified carbon standard credits from a 'bundled' solar photovoltaic project by Acme, India.

As part of the PAS 2060 verification procedures, the site has committed to a further CO2 reduction plan for the next three years.

In addition to the solar power plant and the carbon-neutral boiler, Bridgestone said it had undertaken additional measures at shop-floor level.

For instance, the Japanese parent group is replacing diesel-based forklifts with electric-powered ones and using electric power to replace LPG.

Future plans include increasing the use of green energy, reducing carbon emissions in overall operations and “tracking scope 3 emissions”, said Stefano Sanchini, MD of Bridgestone India.

Overall, Bridgestone’s strategy is to decarbonise its manufacturing capacity, towards a global target of carbon-neutrality (Scope 1 and 2) by 2050.

The group's intermediate targets include a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions from manufacturing operations by 2030 versus a 2011 benchmark.

*Scope 1 emissions are generated by sources owned or controlled by the "company", while scope 2 emissions result from the generation of energy that is purchased and consumed by the company. Scope 3 covers emissions resulting from the company's business but generated by sources not owned or controlled by the company.