A dozen leading tire manufacturers – Apollo, Bridgestone, Continental, Goodyear, Hankook, Kumho, Michelin, Nokian, Pirelli, SRI, Toyo and Yokohama – have been announced as the first companies to adopt natural rubber policies fully aligned with the framework of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR).
“Together with our supply chain partners, these commitments will help improve the quality of life of the natural rubber cultivators, upgrade quality of natural rubber and minimize environmental impact,” explained Sooil Lee, president and CEO, Hankook.
As members of the GPSNR, all the companies’ policies must include eight major components: commitment to legal compliance, healthy functioning ecosystems, respecting human rights, community livelihoods, increased production efficiency, supply chain assessment and traceability, monitoring and reporting, and driving effective implementation of all these components.
“It’s great to see that more and more GPSNR members have aligned their policies to the GPSNR Policy framework,” added Pirelli’s natural rubber procurement and sustainability manager, Ulrich Antoni.
“With the coordinated and concerted effort of GPSNR and all members, the natural rubber industry is directing individual and joint actions towards our shared goals for a sustainable natural rubber future. Pirelli will continue to take a proactive role in the platform and cascade good practices throughout the supply chain, with the ultimate goal of having an impact at the farming level too.”
To ensure new members are adequately supported during the implementation of the aforementioned commitments, GPSNR is to develop an implementation guidance document and baseline reporting requirements.
“Aligning with the policy framework is a requirement for all GPSNR member companies. It is heartening to see the first set of companies follow through the process, and we’re expecting many others to follow suit in the next few weeks,” commented GPSNR platform director Stefano Savi.
“The policies serve as a foundation for a structural transformation not just for one company or rubber plantation, but the industry as a whole. The next step then, is to move from commitment to implementation. To ensure that companies have adequate support to implement these commitments, GPSNR is working on an implementation guidance document and baseline reporting requirements.”
Read TTi’s interview with GPSNR’s Stefano Savi in the March 2021 issue.
