To make the production of tires even more environmentally friendly in the future, Continental is investing in energy-efficient, economical and low-emission production methods. We are aiming to achieve carbon neutral production for all tires by 2040.
To this end, we have set ourselves ambitious interim targets:
Continental is already taking a leading role in the industry when it comes to the efficient use of water and energy. According to the research „Environmental Key Performance Indicators for Tire Manufacturing 2009-2019" conducted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, 2020), Continental uses 55 percent less water per metric ton of tires produced than the industry average.
Since late 2020, the electricity that we purchase for our tire production facilities worldwide has been carbon-neutral and derived from renewable energies. To prove this, we secure energy attribute certificates in accordance with the criteria of the RE100 initiative. To generate green electricity on site, we also operate solar installations at our tire factories.
By 2040, our production will be carbon neutral. This is an ambitious goal, as tire production requires large amounts of electricity and heat.
We therefore invest significantly in continuously improved, innovative and resource-conserving production processes. For example, we already source 100 percent of our electricity at our production sites worldwide from renewable energies (RE100) since 2020.
We also intend to generate as much renewable energy as possible on site at our tire manufacturing facilities in order to minimize transmission losses and operate as efficiently as possible. Several of our sites worldwide are already using their own solar installations to produce energy.
In this way, many Continental sites are making a decisive contribution to fulfilling our climate protection strategy, which aims to operate in a carbon neutral manner across the entire value chain.
