DECODING
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Published on 01/17/24
Michelin’s 360° environmental approach
Michelin is well aware that the future of humankind depends on protecting our planet and conserving its resources and has adopted a holistic approach to reduce its environmental footprint, doing its utmost to operate within the limits of our planet.
Today, the Group is accelerating its efforts to fulfill by 2050 its "All-Sustainable" vision and "net zero emissions" commitments, deploying a master concept for environmental stewardship informed particularly by the idea of a circular economy.
The world is facing numerous challenges, massive and urgent, environmental, and societal, in a context where the global population is predicted to reach more than 9 billion in 2050. The planet is in a state of emergency and certain critical thresholds have already been crossed.
Respect for the environment is one of the Michelin Group’s core values. Due to the Group’s longstanding commitment to reduce its environmental footprint and follow the precepts of the circular economy, it has been able to develop efficient analytical tools. It leverages its unique innovative power as well as technological partnerships to reduce its impact on our planet.
Michelin has defined a three-pronged holistic approach: evaluation of its environmental footprint, eco-design and tangible action and clear commitments for 2030 or 2050.
The French Ministry of Energy Transition gives the following definition:
“Eco-design is a methodology for designing goods and services that considers environmental outcomes during the design process right from the beginning. It seeks to reduce the environmental impact of products at each stage of their life cycle. It is a multi-step and multidimensional approach taking into account each stage of the life cycle and the various contributing factors (material and energy consumption, release into the natural environment, impact on the climate and biodiversity).”
Evaluation of the environmental footprint
Michelin analyses the environmental footprint at each stage of the life cycle of a product or service based on sixteen environmental impacts in four main areas: health, climate change, use of fossil-based resources and biodiversity.
Tires are not biodegradable - at least, not yet. Tire’s grip on the road, which is essential for safe driving, generate wear particles. Tire manufacturing consumes resources such as energy and water and emits CO2 as does tire transportation, use and end-of-life disposal.
Reducing a tire’s environmental impact requires precise data. Michelin utilizes Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a powerful tool which evaluates each stage in a product’s life cycle from design through to disposal (raw materials, transportation, manufacture, use and end-of-life processing) based on the sixteen environmental impacts laid down in the method defined by the European Commission (EU2021/2279).
80 %
The environmental footprint evaluation
Delivered by the life cycle analysis, the environmental footprint evaluation clearly maps the environmental impact of a product, service, or activity at each stage of its life cycle; this makes it possible to prioritize actionable solutions already during the study and design phase. This is where there is scope for action: 80% of a project’s environmental impact is determined upon conception.
This approach will be applied to all product and service ranges marketed in 2030.
In fact, half of all new tire projects were already subject to life cycle analysis at the end of 2021. And since 2023 it has been the case for all new projects to keep their environmental impact in check.
Eco-design is rooted in the Group’s innovation strategy
Michelin considers eco-design to be an excellent framework for innovation providing a driving purpose and logic when seeking environmentally friendly solutions.
The LCA articulates with great precision the environmental impact of a tire, a service or an activity. The eco-design approach, which is an integral part of the Group’s strategy, aims to mitigate a tire’s negative aspects while preserving its qualities and ensuring long lasting performance. The quest to reduce any negative environmental impact is factored in throughout the entire life cycle of a product or service, not only during design or manufacturing.
Eco-design considerations include material and energy consumption, release into the natural environment, climate effects as well as impacts on biodiversity. All negative impacts of the products are carefully studied with a view to finding solutions to mitigate them.
Such an approach may seem rather abstract with its share of graphs, eco-design strategy wheels, percentages, and micro-economic data. But the effects are real and significantly contribute to protecting the environment. The main idea is to design products which have a lower environmental impact with the same performance and without any impact transfer, i.e., improvement on one side, degradation on the other. This can be verified by conducting a comparative environmental analysis between the conventional product or service and the eco-designed equivalent.
At Michelin, the eco-design process is multi-step, multidimensional and multidisciplinary as many different metiers in the company join forces to improve the design of a product or service.
Michelin’s goal is for all its products and solutions to be eco-designed by 2030. The Group has defined a framework in the form of an eco-design charter which has been in force in all its companies since 30 June 2022.
Tangible decisions driven by eco-design
Let’s take the example of a MICHELIN PRIMACY 4 tire manufactured in Europe. We have determined that its “use” phase accounts for 84% of its overall environmental impact. Thanks to eco-design tools and data, engineers have singled out three actionable drivers to reduce this figure and boost the energy efficiency of the product, namely optimizing rolling resistance, increasing lifespan, and reducing the rate of wear (abrasion). If the rolling resistance factor is taken as 1, an improvement of 2 kg/t represents an 18-point environmental gain. 30% better abrasion performance adds another five points.
“Raw materials” account for 13% of the environmental impact. What solutions do we have? Reducing the tire’s weight, substituting recycled or renewable materials for fossil-based raw materials, using low-carbon raw materials and components as well as increasing lifespan and ensuring tires are easier to repair.
Strong environmental commitments
Michelin’s holistic approach goes even further. It makes it possible to identify the Group’s main environmental impacts and translate them into tangible and ambitious goals for 2030 and beyond. These include global warming, the use of fossil-based resources and the protection of biodiversity.
Michelin combats global warming by setting itself the goal of Net- Zero Emissions by 2050 and contributing to low-carbon mobility.
The growing use of renewable and recycled materials in tires is another challenge to tackle for the Group to conserve natural resources.
The Michelin Group is also continuing and strengthening its commitment to biodiversity alongside the act4nature international organization to reduce the pressures exerted on nature by its activities and its entire value chain.
Michelin is one the world’s largest purchasers of natural rubber and is aware that rising global demand can lead to detrimental practices. The Group is therefore working to promote a fair and eco-responsible rubber industry, with the ambition of zero deforestation by bringing the main operators in the sector on board.
In 2030, all Michelin Group production facilities will uphold their commitment not to use pesticides or herbicides in groundskeeping operations.
Lastly, Michelin is seeking to reduce the impact of its manufacturing sites through four priority programs: water withdrawal, the use of organic solvents, the amount of waste generated, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Since 2005, manufacturing facilities have been evaluating water consumption in the same way as energy consumption or CO2 emissions.
43 %
Michelin has already slashed its water withdrawal by 43% in 15 years.
33 %
The Group plans to further reduce water withdrawal by 33% between 2019 and 2030.
In 15 years, Michelin has cut water withdrawal by 43% which represents a saving of 178 million cubic meters, equivalent to the annual household water consumption of 3.3 million people in a country like France. Between 2019 and 2030, Michelin plans to further reduce its water withdrawal by 33%, based on a water stress coefficient for each production site.
The Group’s strategy and initiatives are aligned with international environmental principles such as the 2015 Paris Accord and it is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact as well as various calls to step up the fight against global warming. Michelin has joined the Race to Zero campaign and is in favor of the EU Green Deal as well as EU regulations on deforestation-free products.