Bridgestone announces its first carbon neutral tyre manufacturing site

Bridgestone, a global leader in tyres and solutions, has announced its first tyre manufacturing site to be verified as carbon neutral (scopes 1 and 2). The plant at Chakan in Pune, India, was audited in May and June 2023, and was subsequently verified according to the international PAS 2060 standard[1] for the year 2022 by leading global assurance partner, LRQA.

The certification marks an important milestone in Bridgestone’s efforts to decarbonise its manufacturing capacity, towards the global target of carbon neutrality (Scope 1 and 2) by 2050 and a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions from its operations by 2030 versus the 2011 benchmark.

Bridgestone’s Pune manufacturing facility produces more than 4 million tyres per year. Over the years, the site has reduced its total carbon footprint by 94%, through a number of measures. These include for instance solar panels at the plant and a carbon neutral biomass-based boiler plant which uses carbon neutral biomass briquettes made from agricultural waste.

2,974t CO2 emissions at the site are offset via Bridgestone India’s purchase of Verified Carbon Standard credits from a bundled solar photovoltaic project by Acme, India. The project is designed to generate energy from solar panels that will be exported to the regional power grids in the Telangana, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states in India.

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

“Bridgestone is globally committed to the realisation of a carbon neutral mobility society and we in India are focused on this goal. Other than the solar power plant and the carbon neutral boiler, we have undertaken various measures at the shop-floor level too. We are continuing to replace diesel-based forklifts with electric powered ones and using electric power to replace LPG. Our future plans include further increasing the use of green energy, reducing carbon emissions in our overall operations and tracking scope 3 emissions.” said Stefano Sanchini, Managing Director Bridgestone India.

“This verification ensures that Bridgestone’s reported data and information are reliable and supported by efficient management systems. After reviewing Bridgestone’s information, we confirm its commitment with a decarbonization strategy and we have been able to provide the verification statement PAS 2060 for Carbon Neutrality, Scope 1 and 2 for the Pune Plant. We are delighted to be part of Bridgestone’s decarbonization project, as our focus at LRQA is on supporting clients to ensure the trustworthiness of their sustainability strategies and climate change claims”, said Olga Rivas, ESG Product Cluster Manager at LRQA.

Bridgestone sustainability efforts are a major part of Bridgestone’s vision to continue to provide social and customer value as a sustainable solutions company toward 2050. They are also the embodiment of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment – a set of eight areas (Energy, Ecology, Efficiency, Extension, Economy, Emotion, Ease, Empowerment) which provide a compass and guide Bridgestone to do business in a sustainable way.

“Globally Bridgestone is guided by a deep-rooted mission of “Serving Society with Superior Quality,” and to provide social and customer value as a sustainable solutions company. Towards this end the Company is committed towards the realization of a carbon neutral mobility society. The carbon neutral certification of one of our two tyre plants in India is a historic landmark in the Company’s commitment towards sustainability more so as Bridgestone has set a goal to become carbon neutral by 2050, in line with the Paris climate agreement” said Koji Takagi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Bridgestone EMIA.

[1] PAS 2060:2014 Specification for the Demonstration of Carbon Neutrality