American multinational corporation General Motors (GM) has made an industry-first commitment to source sustainable natural rubber for its tyres to help drive the industry toward net-zero deforestation and uphold human and labour rights.
Believing a collaborative approach is needed in order to transform the global rubber and tyre supply chain to create lasting, environmentally sound sustainable rubber production, the automaker became the first to team up with suppliers to improve global rubber supply.
“Our supplier partners are an extension of our company,” said Steve Kiefer, GM senior vice president of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “We want to encourage affordable, safer and cleaner options for our customers that drive value to both our organisation and the communities in which we work.”
GM believes that sourcing tyres produced using sustainable natural rubber has a number of community, business and environmental benefits, including:
- Preserving and restoring primary forests and high conservation value and high carbon stock areas that are critical to addressing climate change and protecting wildlife
- Improving yield and quality for natural rubber farmers, further supporting the small businesses that contribute 85% of this material
- Mitigating business risk related to supply chain sourcing and performance and helping assure long-term availability of a key commodity
As tyre manufacturers develop sustainable natural rubber policies, automaker demand will help fuel results. GM said it will be working with tyre suppliers, governments, rubber industry associations and environmental NGOs to drive alignment and reduce supply chain complexity.
GM said it is also working with suppliers such as Bridgestone, Continental, Goodyear and Michelin to develop appropriate transparency into natural rubber and ensure its traceability throughout the supply chain. The company encourages other automakers and suppliers to join in the effort to accelerate progress.
GM says it is committed to developing safer, simpler and better solutions that move humanity forward.