Tire & rubber majors track progress towards meeting net zero

The scale of the challenges facing tire & rubber-product makers setting out on the road to net-zero are highlighted in this review of the latest sustainability reporting by a selection of leading players.

From an industry-wide perspective, a particular challenge is transparency, in that a lack of common reporting standards makes it difficult to compare the performance of companies – even those in the same sector.

That said, the figures on the levels of greenhouse gas emissions and energy-consumption per tonne of product produced and/or sold do offer a general basis for comparison.

More generally, the rate of improvement for the reporting year, mainly 2022, compared to proceeding years as well as to baseline and target years, is also informative.

In this regard, the data presents a mixed picture of how well tire makers and rubber processors are faring in their quest to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Even where significant progress is being made, for example with transitioning to renewable energy, there is still some uncertainty over whether early momentum can be maintained. 

Meanwhile, the need to replace fossil-based raw materials with recycled or renewable alternative – while maintaining performance and safety characteristics –  remains perhaps the biggest technical challenge for the industry.

It will be interesting to gauge companies’ progress and momentum in this key area as sustainability reports carrying data for 2023 start to emerge around the second quarter of this year...

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