GENEVA, Switzerland, May 26, 2021 (ENS) – Eleven of the world’s largest tire companies care about the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. These 17 aspirational goals were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 to address some of the world’s most pressing issues by 2030. The tire makers, usually competitors, are cooperating to turn those aspirations into facts.
The 11 tire companies all are members of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development’s Tire Industry Project (TIP). Together, they have launched a “Roadmap” that outlines how the tire sector can contribute to the SDGs while “navigating the transition to a low-carbon, resilient and resource-efficient economy.”
Members of the Tire Industry Project, in alphabetical order, are: Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper Tire, Goodyear, Hankook, Kumho Tire, Michelin, Pirelli, Sumitomo Rubber, Toyo Tires, and Yokohama Rubber.
TIP Director Anne-Cécile Rémont said, “The tire sector interacts with all 17 SDGs, but the Roadmap puts focus where the sector has the greatest potential to lead, accelerate, or influence action toward the 2030 Agenda.”
To maximize positive and minimize negative impact, Rémont explained that seven impact pathways were identified across three main themes: supply chain, operations, and products and services.
Impact pathways were developed for each opportunity and include a series of actions toward the eight SDGs that the Roadmap identifies as priorities. Two of the goals – SDG 8, decent work and economic growth, and SDG 12, responsible consumption and production, received special attention.
The Sustainable Development Goals have the potential to unleash innovation, economic growth, and development globally at an unprecedented scale, says the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, WBCSD.
The WBCSD estimates the market opportunities the Goals will create for business at US$12 trillion per year by 2030.
Achieving the goals is beyond the reach of any one organization and TIP members recognize the role they can play – collectively and individually – in driving the actions forward as outlined in the Roadmapbut only with strong efforts from all stakeholders.
“We encourage all members of the sector, and customers, consumers, suppliers, governments, academia and NGOs, to engage with the Roadmap to accelerate SDG impact,” said Rémont.
The World Business Council on Sustainable Development credits production of the Roadmap to consultations with global stakeholders – industry associations, non-governmental organizations, and subject matter experts, along with support from ERM, the environmental, health, safety, risk, social and sustainability consulting service.
The Council explains that the SDGs are recognized as a framework to tackle the world’s most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Each sector needs its own framework, the WBCSD recognizes and so has offered SDG Sector Roadmaps “to inspire businesses to translate global needs and ambitions into business solutions.”
“In collaboration with ERM, WBCSD has developed a set of guidelines – a structured approach that companies can follow as they tackle SDG road-mapping for their sector.
Peter Bakker, president and CEO of the Council, said, “By applying their creativity and innovation to develop these solutions, companies and entire sectors will be in a better position to manage risk, anticipate demand, capture growth markets, and strengthen supply chains.”
TIP recognizes that monitoring the progress of companies and the sector in their implementation of the Roadmap will be important to ensuring that the sector remains focused on optimizing its contributions to the SDGs.
So, by 2023 the Tire Industry Project will add to its existing monitoring of environmental key performance indicators for tire manufacturing, other indicators that will measure progress against the new Roadmap targets.
Featured image: Michelin’s CrossClimate2 tire, 2021 Photo courtesy Michelin Group)
