Michelin reaffirms its environmental targets

In response to the urgent need to halt global warming and reduce carbon emissions, the Michelin Group has reaffirmed its environmental targets and is abiding by its roadmap commitments, by taking action at each stage of the product life cycle to bring about a carbon-free future.

2019 has been one of the hottest years in recent decades, marking a new milestone in the worldwide increase in greenhouse gas emissions and extreme weather events. The transportation sector alone is responsible for 23% of CO2 emissions worldwide. Although much has already been done to make mobility compatible with sustainable development, an immense challenge remains.

In response, the Michelin Group, a true pioneer in sustainable mobility, is moving fast and looking far ahead. The objective is for all their plants worldwide to emit zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Another goal is to reduce tyre-related energy consumption, per kilometre travelled, by 20%, by 2030. The Group’s strategy is in line with the Paris Agreement signed at COP21 in 2015, to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. This is Michelin’s concrete response to the global objective of decarbonising the transport sector by 2050.

They are putting this roadmap into action every day, through a strategy that reviews every stage of the tyre life cycle, from production and logistics, to how customers use them as well as the development of new forms of mobility.

ACCELERATING ENERGY TRANSITION IN THE TYRE PLANTS

To reduce the carbon footprint levels of their global production, Michelin developed a strategy founded on two pillars: consume less and implement an energy transition. This strategy has already had concrete and positive effects. In Europe, 85% of their plants are already powered by electricity that comes from renewable sources, and between 2010 and 2018, they managed to reduced CO2 emissions by 22%.

In the future, Michelin will pursue their efforts to improve the energy-efficiency of their industrial plants by using more renewable energy, and eliminating coal altogether. Currently, there are still 5 out of 70 of the group’s sites around the world using coal and studies have been launched to evaluate the feasibility of replacing the coal in these with another source of primary energy, such as gas or biomass. All plants will phase out the use of coal by 2030 at the latest.

TRANSPORT LESS, TRANSPORT BETTER, TRANSPORT DIFFERENTLY

In logistics, Michelin’s top priority is to reduce the impact of transportation on the environment. To do this, the three key principles are to transport less, transport better, and transport differently. These apply to the company’s internal organisation as well as external suppliers.

Transporting less simply means that the best form of transportation is one that isn’t used. This is done by restricting product sales area to the level of the production site, thereby reducing the distance travelled and limiting the number of trips.

Michelin’s commitment to “better transport” entails using increasingly efficient transport (such as avoiding empty runs, for example), which is pooled and takes an intermodal approach. Several initiatives around the world illustrate this: a train between Poland and Germany is now replacing trucks, thus preventing the production of 42 tons of CO2 per week, the equivalent of 70,000 km travelled by road. In addition, some Michelin products are now shipped between Canada and the United States by boat instead of by road.

Each and every day, Michelin is designing alternative modes of transport that are more environmentally friendly, so in Europe for example, deliveries to customers are now combined with other freight deliveries. This is what Michelin mean by transporting differently.

A STRATEGY THAT EXTENDS TO THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Their ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions naturally also extend to the customer experience, with tyres that are more and more durable, safe, and energy efficient. By extending the life of the products, Michelin is proving that tyres can, and must, offer very high performance until the tread wear indicators appear. If drivers used their tyres until the legal tread depth of 1.6 mm, this would help avoid wasting of 400 million tyres each year and prevent 35 million tons of CO2 emissions

Source: Michelin