Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced it would adopt 100% renewable energy at plants across Europe and Turkey in the first of a multiple-phase plan covering all facilities across Europe, Middle East and Africa by the end of 2022.
The decision will enable the tyre maker to reduce operational impacts and aligns with its goal of reducing carbon emissions intensity by 25% by 2023 versus a 2010 baseline. The company already achieved 19% intensity reduction in 2020.
By purchasing around 700,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity, manufacturing plants in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, Turkey and the Netherlands will operate on sustainably sourced electricity. This shift will reduce the company’s carbon footprint by up to 260,000 tons.
Goodyear will increase usage of renewable energy sources like hydro, wind, solar or geothermic biomass power to achieve this critical shift. To ensure electricity has been produced from renewable energy sources, the supplier procures GoOs (Guarantee of Origin) which provide information to electricity customers on the source of their energy.
This is one of a number of actions Goodyear is taking to ensure it contributes to a reduction in carbon emissions. Earlier this year the company announced it would construct Luxembourg’s first large scale solar carport which is now operational.
Other locations such as South Africa, and Cooper Tire plants in Serbia and UK will be reviewed in a second phase.