Bridgestone increases renewable energy use in Japan

With the changeover of three facilities this month, Bridgestone is powering all but one of its tyre and raw material plants in Japan with 100 per cent renewable purchased electricity. The Kurume and Amagi tyre factories and Saga tyre cord plant are the latest facilities where Bridgestone is sourcing renewable power. It has powered the Nasu and Tochigi tyre plants with bought renewable electricity since January 2023 and the Hofu site since October 2022. Four further tyre factories – Hikone, Tosu, Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu – have run on 100 per cent purchased renewable electricity since July 2021.

With these ten facilities running on 100 per cent renewable purchased electricity, the renewable electricity ratio at Bridgestone production sites in Japan rises to around 90 per cent. This calculation includes purchased and self-generated renewable electricity and also factors in renewable electricity that Bridgestone sells. The only Bridgestone tyre plant in Japan not yet purchasing renewable electricity is the Tokyo AC aircraft tyre-making and retreading facility.

With 2011 as its benchmark, Bridgestone aims to halve absolute CO2 emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030 and plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The company is working to source more than half its electricity worldwide from renewable energy by 2023 and challenging itself to lift this ratio to 100 per cent by 2030. All electricity purchased for Bridgestone EMIA locations in Europe now comes from renewable sources, as does the power supplied to the Bridgestone plants in Tianjin and Wuxi, China. Furthermore, Bridgestone has also begun using solar power at plants in Japan, Thailand, the United States and Europe.