Bridgestone Announces Expansion Of Renewable Electricity Use At Four Japanese Tire Plants

The tyremaker long term environmental target is to reach a carbon neutral state by 2050

Bridgestone Corporation announced on Thursday that it has switched all the electricity sourced from external sources to renewable energy including hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind energy to power four domestic tire plants in Japan - in Hikone, Tosu, Shimonoseki, and Kitakyushu.

The first plant to adopt renewable energy to power manufacturing operations was the Hikone Plant, on June 1. The other three plants made the change on July 1, 2021.

This change of energy source is expected to reduce approximately 11 points in annual CO2 emissions produced by Bridgestone domestic tire plants, and the total reductions of CO2 emission including initiatives done by 2020 will be approximately 30% when compared to 2011, said the tyremaker in a release.

The ratio of renewable electricity at domestic tire plants will be increased to approximately 42%. Bridgestone will continue to reduce CO2 emissions by expanding renewable energy use, improving tire production energy efficiency, and installing new solar power generation systems in all the domestic tire factories through 2030, it further added.

The tyremaker says it is moving ahead with Sustainability Business Framework through the implementation of its Mid Term Business Plan (2021 - 2023) that aims to realize its vision to provide social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company toward 2050. The Sustainability Business Framework is designed to contribute to realizing resource circulation, CO2 reduction, a circular economy and carbon neutrality throughout its businesses.

In addition, the Group's long-term environmental target established a goal to reach a carbon neutral state by 2050, while its Milestone 2030 medium-term environmental targets include a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 when compared to 2011.

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According to company, the Group's sustainability initiatives, European subsidiary Bridgestone Europe NV/SA recently completed the switch to renewable energy as the source of power for all of its business sites in Europe in March 2021.

In addition, solar power generation facilities are being installed at plants such as the one in Aiken, South Carolina in the United States and in Wuxi in China. Through these and other efforts, the Group is aiming to increase the percentage of renewable energy used to power its operations from the current level of approximately 12%, to 50% by 2023.

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