Tire Technology International - March 2024 Issue
Sustainability roundup
Trinity Francis 2024-04-06 09:17:50
Green lights
Like other industries, the tire sector continues along the path to improved sustainability. TTI takes a look at how the tire business is shaping up as the first sets of environmental targets creep ever closer
As we edge closer to new sustainability standards and regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in Europe, sustainability is top of mind across all industries. By 2025, the first large and listed companies will have completed mandatory reporting on the impact of their operations on people and the environment. Globally, more initiatives like this are coming into force in preparation for meeting net zero targets by 2050. Given we’re a mere 26 years away from this deadline, there’s plenty of work to be done.
Tire manufacturers have a significant impact on the environment but this affords them the opportunity to set examples to dramatically reduce emissions too. Each stage of a tire’s lifecycle has emissions-saving potential.
“There is the procurement of raw materials, then comes the manufacturing stage, then comes transportation of the tire, its use phase and the end of life,” says Rinika Grover, head of sustainability and CSR at Apollo Tyres.
It’s important to reduce emissions at every stage of a tire’s lifecycle. Pete Robb, a sustainability expert at Continental, says, “We develop sustainable solutions along the entire value chain of a tire. No part can be looked at independently.”
Grover agrees that silo working is not a productive way to approach a company or supply chain decarbonization strategy. Instead, she says, “We present our sustainability journey to our suppliers. There are some suppliers who are ahead of Apollo’s curve so it’s good to learn from them.”
Although no part should be looked at in isolation, every stage in the supply chain has its own decarbonization challenges and potential remedies. First, raw material can be assessed from two perspectives. Considering the materials themselves, manufacturers are opting for more environmentally friendly alternative materials. “These include waste products from agriculture (such as the ash from rice husks), rubber from dandelions, recycled rubber or recycled PET bottles,” Robb says.
"We develop sustainable solutions along the entire value chain of a tire. No part can be looked at independently” Pete Robb, sustainability expert, Continental
Using these agricultural by-products is a way to source less impactful ingredients, which then act as substitutes for more polluting materials. Beyond sourcing the necessary raw materials, harvesting practices for natural ingredients is an important factor in the longterm sustainability of suppliers and materials. As Grover explains, “All our natural rubber suppliers signed a policy agreement stating that the rubber they’re supplying us with is not cultivated on deforested land and farmers are paid fairly – at least minimum wage.”
As tire companies are often global businesses, this approach to transparency with suppliers differs from region to region, based on legislation and specific localized conditions. In India, more than 85% of Apollo’s rubber is supplied by smallholder farmers. The company works with these farmers to ensure that they rotate crops regularly to ensure the land can continue to support rubber production over time.
Building for the future
After the raw material part of the chain is assessed and improved for sustained production over time, the next stage is manufacturing. Here, renewable energy is a key solution in efforts to reduce emissions for processes that require a lot of energy. Furthermore, tire building machines are being optimized to require less energy to complete the same tasks more quickly. As tire makers invest in new machinery, the total demand for energy will likely decrease.
When tires are ready to be sent to customers, optimizing supply chain logistics is essential to cut emissions at this stage in the process. Apollo uses electric vehicles for last-mile deliveries and strategically positions its warehousing to reduce transportation miles.
Next comes the use phase. Prompted by regulation and increased customer awareness of sustainability issues, tire manufacturers are improving the environmental performance of their products. For example, Euro 7 emissions standards will include regulations for tire particulate emissions. This measure is designed to combat microplastic pollutants.
Beyond wear, the tire maker’s responsibility in the use phase extends to designing tires that have low rolling resistance, to help the vehicle achieve better fuel economy or range. The rise in EVs means there is an industrywide focus on rolling resistance.
"All our NR suppliers signed an agreement stating that [their] rubber is not cultivated on deforested land” Rinika Grover, head of sustainability and CSR, Apollo Tyres
SRI has announced that this process will now include aerodynamic simulation. While ICE vehicles lose a large proportion of energy to heat, EVs aren’t subject to the same amount of heat loss. Instead, air resistance contributes to EV energy loss. According to the tire maker’s research, 20-25% of the energy loss due to air resistance in an EV passenger car is related to the tires. Around 34-37% of the energy loss in EVs is attributed to the tires, if rolling resistance is included.
Ki Jong Kil, VP of the RE development department at Hankook Tire, says, “With the ProDurable Compound, Ion [Hankook’s EV-specific high-performance line] has achieved a remarkable 31% boost in mileage (with the Ion Evo), demonstrating how incorporating cutting-edge fillers and flexible rubber materials can sustainably extend tire life.”
Arguably, another significant influence tire makers can have on their Scope 3 emissions comes in the form of marketing campaigns.
“The growing environmental awareness of customers is leading us to focus even more on environmentally friendly technologies and materials,” says Robb. There is a circular notion, in this sense, to inform the customer of sustainability initiatives which, in turn, increases their awareness and drives demand for these products from environmentally aware demographics.
Hence, a spot on a global stage is vital to reach new customers. Bridgestone has been announced as the new Formula E tire supplier from 2026. Taking over from Hankook, the company will have an opportunity to showcase its tires in this electric motorsport competition. The racing series promotes sustainable practices by using a set maximum number of tires and the same tires for the majority of weather conditions. The Formula E tender specifies an all-season, grooved, ‘baseline’ tire with the only other option a ‘typhoon’ tire for heavy rain conditions.
As is now becoming the case in a range of motorsport applications, manufacturers view demonstration of their technologies in extreme conditions as an opportunity to prove the effectiveness of higher levels of sustainable materials in tires.
End of the road
Finally, end-of-life tire processing enables certain materials to be recovered from the tire.
"Incorporating cutting-edge fillers and flexible rubber materials can sustainably extend tire life” Ki Jong Kil, VP, RE development, Hankook Tire
“We rely on the mechanical processing of end-of-life tires,” Robb says. “Rubber, steel and textile cord in particular are separated, in a highly sophisticated process, from one another. The rubber is then prepared for reuse as part of new rubber compounds.”
Although preparing materials to go back into the production line can be an energy-intensive process, with the support of renewable energy this contributes to increasing the circularity of products. To reach ambitious targets – such as Hankook’s goal to use 100% sustainable materials for all its tires by 2050 – the potential to reuse or recycle must be considered at the raw material stage.
“We take a holistic approach to make the material sourcing, production and use of our tires – as well as the retreading and recycling of end-of-life tires – as environmentally friendly, energy efficient and carbon neutral as possible,” adds Robb.
To an extent, this will involve reimagining aspects of the supply chain to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The defining progress tracker, however, is likely to come in six years when manufacturers arrive at interim deadlines that were set for 2030 – giving the industry, and the world, an opportunity to see how far along the road to sustainability the tire business really is.
WHAT DOES SUSTAINABILITY MEAN?
The sustainability space is becoming cluttered with carefully chosen words and definitions. What do these terms actually tell us about our tires?
There’s a lot of jargon surrounding sustainability that makes it difficult to understand what companies really mean. Definitions are hard to agree upon and even harder to pin down to a concise description that lacks loopholes. However, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) offers definitions that are used by the likes of Apollo Tyres to standardize their operations against other companies that take part in GRI.
First, and perhaps most important, GRI defines sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Next up is recycling, which GRI defines as “reprocessing of products or components of products that have become waste, to make new materials”. GRI also offers a secondary definition for recycled input material, which is particularly relevant to tires. It’s defined as “material that replaces virgin materials, which are purchased or obtained from internal or external sources, and that are not by-products and non-product outputs produced by the organization”. This perhaps offers a more accurate description of the materials included in new tires, such as recycled metals or compounding materials that fall under this ‘recycled input material’ umbrella.
This is closely linked with what GRI calls circularity measures. These are steps taken “to retain the value of products, materials and resources and redirect them back to use for as long as possible with the lowest carbon and resource footprint possible, such that fewer raw materials and resources are extracted, and waste generation is prevented”.
Lastly, renewable materials are often said to be included in new tires. Taking the GRI definition, this means that a tire has “material that is derived from plentiful resources that are quickly replenished by ecological cycles or agricultural processes, so that the services provided by these, and other linked resources, are not endangered and remain available for the next generation”.
ECO-FRIENDLY PLANTS
What steps are tire makers taking to improve the environmental credentials of the plants responsible for manufacturing more sustainable tires?
Tire manufacturing requires a significant amount of energy. Continental sources all electricity for its production sites worldwide from renewable energy. In its target to reach carbon neutrality by 2040, the tire maker is installing on-site renewable energy capture solutions such as solar panels.
Similarly, Apollo Tyres is increasing its proportion of renewable energy use year-on-year. As the company’s Rinika Grover says, “From FY22 to FY23, our production increased by nearly 5% but our emissions decreased by nearly 11%. We increased renewables from 9% to 14% and this year we hope that will reach 22%, with an aspiration to be about 30% by FY26.”
Elsewhere, Hankook has received approval from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for its strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and overall reduction plans for net zero by 2050. The company’s ESG report says, “We plan to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46.2% and our Scope 3 emissions by 27.5% by 2030, from the 2019 baseline, to eventually reach net zero by 2050.” Hankook says this will be achieved by optimizing energy use with more efficient equipment and renewable energy sources.
Although zero-emission renewable energy is seen as the ideal solution, based on location and resource availability some manufacturers are switching to less harmful fuels in the meantime. Apollo’s Indian plants, for example, are now free of fossil fuels and run on biofuels.
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