Sumitomo Rubber Wins Environmental Achievement of the Year－Manufacturing

Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.  is pleased to announce the winning of the Environmental Achievement of the Year－Manufacturing at the “Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence” in recognition of its use of hydrogen energy and solar power for tire production. The award ceremony was performed at the “Tire Technology Expo 2024” which was held this past March 18th through 21st in Hanover, Germany.

Mr. Shotaro Abe (a Manager in the Environmental Strategy Promotion Department at our Sustainability Management Promotion Headquarters), and Dr. Bernd Löwenhaupt, (the Managing Director of Sumitomo Rubber Europe GmbH) both personally attended the awards ceremony held on March 19th. In their acceptance speeches, they showed their great appreciation. “This award was the result of our work with partner companies with the support of the Japanese government and Fukushima Prefecture, who are promoting the use of hydrogen. The Sumitomo Rubber Group has adopted a long-term sustainability policy, and one important theme in this policy is helping to realize a carbon-neutral society. We will accelerate our efforts to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 as we continue contributing to the realization of a sustainable society.”

Scene from award ceremony (From Right: Dr. Löwenhaupt, Mr. Abe)

■ Summary of the Using Hydrogen Energy and Solar Power for Tire Production In August 2021, we began a proof of concept to utilize hydrogen, which holds promise as a next-generation energy source, at our major tire factory in the City of Shirakawa(Fukushima Prefecture) as part of a project subsidized by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO, a national research and development agency). In addition to the adoption of hydrogen energy, we installed solar panels in the employee parking lot^*1, and in January 2023 we began producing mass-produced tires^*2 that achieved the carbon neutrality^*3 (Scocpes1,2)at the time of production for the first time in Japan^*4 using hydrogen energy and solar power. ▷ “Using Hydrogen Energy for Tire Production” 

Hydrogen boiler	Solar panels

Tire Technology Expo, which has been held in Europe since 2001, is a forum where tire manufacturers, material manufacturers, public research institutions, and other organizations present their research outcomes, and awards are granted for outstanding technologies in 12 fields.^*5

We believe that this award is the result of our progressive efforts to achieve carbon neutrality in the manufacturing process. Going forward, we will continue contributing to the realization of a sustainable society by pursuing the initiatives set forth in “Driving Our Future Challenge 2050”^*6, our long-term sustainability policy, and “TOWANOWA”^*7, our circular economy concept for the tire industry.

This is the seventh time that Sumitomo Rubber has won the Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence, following past wins for Fourth-Generation Run-Flat Tire Technology (2010), ADVANCED 4D NANO DESIGN (2017), SENSING CORE Technology (2019), Performance Sustaining Technology (2022), Synthesized Biopolymers, and Invention of a New Enzyme Evaluation Technique (both in 2023) ^*8.

Source: Sumitomo