Automotive supplier Mahle reports achieving CO2 neutrality at its production sites in Germany during the course of last year. This represents an important step in the plan to achieve company-wide CO2 neutral production by 2040. The company also aims to annually increase the use of self-generated power from renewable sources.
If you weren’t aware that Michelin has developed a system of sails for larger boats and ships, then you’re not alone. But it has indeed, and presented an automated, telescopic, inflatable wing sail system that can be fitted on both merchant ships and pleasure craft at the 2021 Movin’On event. The Wing Sail Mobility (WISAMO) system will soon be installed on a ConRo vessel sailing between Spain and the UK.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced a goal of reaching net-zero value chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and its new Net-Zero Standard. The company also announced its commitment to achieve near-term science-based targets by 2030, and in 2022 will submit both targets to SBTi for independent validation.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber may soon be utilising carbon black produced from methane and/or biomethane in its tyres thanks to a new partnership with US-based clean materials firm Monolith. The two companies have signed a collaboration agreement and letter of intent covering the development and potential use of such products, which are made through a plasma-based methane pyrolysis process.
Cabot Corporation has aligned its sustainability agenda with the Paris Climate Agreement to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Announcing its commitment to the agreement today, Cabot says this decision demonstrates its “ongoing commitment to protect the planet and further the company’s robust sustainability journey.”
The governing body of world motorsport has awarded Pirelli’s motorsport division three stars as part of its Environmental Accreditation Programme. This is the highest score that the FIA awards within the programme and gives only to participants who have demonstrated the best environmental standards in a series of measures.
Continental is calling for politicians in its homeland to develop a more targeted concept for achieving carbon neutrality, and warns that now is the time to identify new employment opportunities brought about by climate transformation. Without a targeted concept and greater momentum, the company fears the German government’s determination to reach self-imposed climate targets by 2045 will result in serious disruption.
Under a new ten-year agreement, Nordic energy company Gasum will supply renewable wind energy for the electricity Nokian Tyres uses in its factory in Finland as well as its Vianor operations within the country. Supply of power produced at a new wind farm in North Ostrobotnia will start in 2023.
Improving a tyre’s wear efficiency by up to 30 per cent while decreasing rolling resistance by up to six per cent without affecting any other performance area sounds like a tall order. But Bridgestone says that it has achieved this together with partners Arlanxeo and Solvay. The three firms presented Techsyn, the fruit of two years of collaboration, during an online presentation this afternoon.
The parent company of tyre maker Trelleborg Wheel Systems has launched a new climate goal, which it calls ‘50 by 25’. This is Swedish firm Trelleborg AB’s aim to reduce its CO2 emissions relative to sales 50 per cent by 2025. It will pursue this goal in conjunction with a vision statement to achieve complete climate neutrality, or net zero emissions, in its own operations by the end of 2035.
The world’s first carbon neutral wheel comes to market at the end of this month. This is the Ronal R70-blue, and the Ronal Group says it manufactures this passenger car rim using 100 per cent renewable energy and primarily from reused aluminium, a material that’s 100 per cent recyclable.
February’s car registration figures were released as the SMMT calls on the Chancellor to use next week’s Budget to announce bold new measures to make new-tech zero emission-capable cars, including plug-in hybrids, more affordable for mass-market buyers. In 2020, manufacturers will bring more than 23 new battery-electric and ten plug-in hybrid electric cars to the UK to add to the more than 65 already on sale, but take-up of these new models depends on affordability and the provision of adequate charging infrastructure.
A full reengineering of steam generation equipment at the Trelleborg Wheel Systems plant in Sri Lanka will improve the facility’s environmental footprint as well as its production efficiency. Trelleborg is installing a new biomass boiler at the production site in Makola, near Colombo; it reports that work on this “major investment” has already begun, and the new process will be fully operational from June 2019.
The UK has once again beaten CO2 emissions targets, with the average new car in 2014 posting CO2 emissions 4.2 per cent below this year’s EU-wide target of 130g/km, according to a Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) new report.
The annual SMMT New Car CO2 Report 2015 reveals that carbon tailpipe emissions have fallen for the 17th consecutive year to an all-time low. In 2014, new cars averaged just 124.6g/km, beating last year’s record average by 2.9 per cent and 2007 levels by almost a quarter (24 per cent).
In 2007, the Central American nation of Costa Rica set itself the goal of becoming the world’s first carbon neutral country, a feat it aimed to achieve by 2021. Bridgestone de Costa Rica (BSCR) has supported this ambition and set itself the goal of achieving C-Neutral certification by the Costa Rican government. It has worked towards this via a number of projects, including the installation of LED lights and solar lamps, switching to greener chemical products and implementing a carpooling programme. Last year it introduced nitrogen vulcanisation, replacing less energy-efficient hot water. As a result of these and other efforts, CO2 emissions at BSCR sank by 923 tons year-on-year in 2013, a 4.14 per cent reduction.
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