Continental Tires has achieved the highest rating possible for its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the tyre manufacturing supply chain
For the fifth year in a row the international non-profit organisation CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) has awarded Continental Tires with its highest ratings for implementing strategies to reduce emissions in the supply chain.
Head of Sustainability at Continental Tires, Claus Petschick, says the company worked closely with its suppliers to improve sustainability across as many stages of the supply chain as possible.
“We want higher efficiency and lower emissions,” Petschick says.
“By 2050, at the latest, we want to achieve fully sustainable supply chains, and we are working at full speed to reach this goal.
“Receiving this score once again from CDP proves that we are on the right track to further reduce our emissions generated both within our company and externally.”
Continental Tire’s approach to the challenge involves everything from training smaller businesses with the help of the German development aid agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), to making use of cutting-edge digital technology and conducting research into alternative sources for natural rubber.
To enable it to assess the sustainability performance of suppliers, Continental has been working with EcoVadis, the world’s leading provider of sustainability ratings for companies and global supply chains, since 2017.
Petschick says clear responsibilities and obligations for the selection of suppliers help it to minimise environmental risks and emissions, as well as social and human rights risks.
By 2030, Continental’s ambition is to exclusively use responsibly sourced natural rubber in its tire production.
The company also achieved an “A-” rating in the area of climate protection from CDP, putting it into the top 1.5 per cent of the 13,000 organisations analysed worldwide for this year’s ratings push.
In the area of sustainable water management, Continental maintained its performance from the previous year, once again receiving a “B”.
The CDP analysis is based on data submitted by companies regarding corporate governance, emissions generated externally and thus in the context of the entire product cycle (Scope 3 emissions) and supply chain management.
In particular, CDP focuses on strategies and measures that help to make environmental risks and emissions along value chains measurable so that they can ultimately be minimised.
Visit www.cdp.net/en/companies/companies-scores for more information on how the CDP scores are achieved.