From the roar of fuel vehicles to the silence of electric vehicles, from traditional rubber formulas to innovative applications of sustainable materials, the tire and wheel industry is undergoing a profound green change.
Amid the twin waves of global response to climate change and the electrification transformation of the automotive industry, the tire and wheel industry is no longer just an arena of durability and cost, but has become a testing ground for low-carbon materials, circular economy and responsible supply chains.
ESG has become the core criterion for measuring whether a company can win the trust of global OEMs and seize opportunities in the new energy vehicle market.
Recently, Hainan Green Development Credit Rating Co., Ltd. released ESG active rating results for A-share listed companies, which show that a number of leading companies have emerged in the tire and wheel industry that are driven by green intelligent manufacturing and based on responsible governance. They are taking practical actions to provide solid support for the low-carbon transformation of the automotive industry.
Rating Overview: Setting the benchmark, clustering together to create a new level of industry responsibility
Green Development Rating’s active rating results show that Guizhou Tire has received the highest AA+pi rating in the industry, becoming a benchmark for leading the industry’s sustainable development.
Following closely, three companies, Sailun Tire, Lizhong Group, and Triangle Tire, received AApi ratings, and Fengshen Co., Ltd. received AA-pi ratings, ranking among the first echelon.
The second tier is mainly composed of companies rated from A+pi to BBBpi, with a total of 4 companies. Among them, General Motors and Linglong Tire received A+pi rating, Qingdao Double Star received Api rating, and Jingu Co., Ltd. received BBBpi rating.
There are 10 companies in the industry with levels of BB-pi and below, reflecting the current differences in the progress of different companies in the industry in terms of sustainable development layout.
Leading companies have established a relatively mature ESG management system by virtue of their earlier green strategic layout, continuous R&D investment and perfect governance structure, and have formed replicable experience in environmental carbon reduction, social responsibility implementation and governance compliance. However, the ESG construction of tailing companies is still in the initial stage of advancement, and there is still much room for improvement in aspects such as carbon emission management, sustainable information disclosure, and responsible supply chain creation.
Core issues in the industry: anchoring the dual responsibilities of low carbon and safety
In the environmental dimension, companies need to face the dual challenges of carbon footprint and material change.
Tire manufacturing involves high-energy-consuming processes such as internal mixing, calendering, and vulcanization, while wheel hub production relies on aluminum smelting and casting, both of which are carbon emission-intensive links.
Enterprises need to significantly increase the proportion of renewable energy use, promote waste heat recovery and energy-saving processes; accelerate the substitution of petroleum-based raw materials, develop bio-based rubber, waste tire cracking carbon black, recycled aluminum and other low-carbon materials; systematically calculate the carbon footprint of products to meet the EU’s carbon border regulation mechanism and the stringent requirements of OEMs.
At the same time, water recycling, ultra-low waste gas emissions, and high-value utilization of solid waste are also key to determining corporate environmental performance.
In the social dimension, enterprises need to carry a zero-defect quality bottom line and full-chain supply chain responsibility.
Tires are directly related to driving safety, and any quality issues may trigger major recalls.
Establishing a full life cycle quality control system covering R&D, production and testing is the unshakable lifeline of the industry.
On the supply chain side, natural rubber cultivation involves deforestation risks and employee rights and interests issues, and companies need to build a traceable and responsible procurement system with zero deforestation.
Employee occupational health and safety, skills training and development are also core issues in the social dimension.
In the governance dimension, faced with the challenges of international trade barriers, raw material price fluctuations and the expansion of the carbon market, companies need to establish an ESG governance structure at the board level, link ESG indicators with executive compensation, systematically manage climate risks and anti-corruption compliance, and ensure information transparency and timely disclosure.
Practice Benchmark: Leading Enterprises Drive a Sustainable Future with Green Materials and Intelligent Manufacturing
Faced with difficult propositions, leading enterprises, with their solid data and innovative management, provide the industry with a sustainable development model that can be used as a reference.
Guizhou Tire has demonstrated a systematic and forward-looking layout in green transformation.
The proportion of petroleum-based raw materials used will drop from 43.73% in 2023 to 21.06% in 2025, the proportion of recycled tire waste will increase to 7.43%, the water resource recycling rate will reach 97.83%, and the proportion of clean energy usage will reach 39.22%.
Sailun Tire deeply embeds ESG performance into executive compensation assessment, and incorporates environment, occupational health and safety, product quality and other indicators into the performance system.
In 2025, the carbon emissions per unit product of its semi-steel radial tires will decrease by 22.94% compared with 2022, all-steel tires will decrease by 24.34%, and off-highway tires will decrease by 37.29%.
Self-owned photovoltaic power generation and biomass utilization combined to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 36,500 tons; more than 12,000 tons of carbon quota transactions were completed.
In terms of resource recycling, more than 20,000 tons of plastic mats were recycled, 215 tons of waste oil were harmlessly disposed, and more than 720,000 packaging materials and pallets were recycled.
Lizhong Group is at the forefront of large-scale application of recycled aluminum.
The usage of scrap aluminum will reach 940,000 tons in 2025. The proportion of A356 recycled aluminum in the wheel segment can reach up to 75%. The carbon footprint of products using 75% recycled aluminum is about 55% lower than that of 100% thermal power aluminum.
The heat treatment-free alloy developed by it has a scrap aluminum addition ratio of up to 90% – 100%.
Clean energy usage increased by more than 113% year-on-year.
Recycling packaging materials account for 98.9% of orders among domestic supporting customers.
Triangle Tire has outstanding performance in sustainable material research and development and energy efficiency improvement.
It has developed tires with more than 80% sustainable materials, completed the application evaluation of renewable steel cords, renewable polyester cords and other materials and put them on the market in small batches.
The full electromagnetic induction heating direct pressure vulcanization technology innovates the traditional process, and the vulcanization waste heat is comprehensively utilized to effectively save steam, water and electricity.
The road to the future: the value transition from traditional manufacturing to low-carbon material solutions
Looking at the industry, the exploration of leading companies proves that on this track related to travel safety and the future of the earth, sustainable development is not a cost, but a strategic engine to build technical barriers, win high-end markets, and resist policy risks.
Looking forward, the evolution of the industry will continue to deepen in several directions.
The transformation of raw materials from petroleum-based to bio-based and recycled materials will be accelerated.
The closed-loop recycling system of tire retreading, chemical cracking of waste tires, recycled carbon black and recycled steel cord will gradually take shape, and the circular economy will move from concept to large-scale industry.
Artificial intelligence and digital twin technology will deeply empower formula optimization, energy consumption management and real-time accounting of carbon footprints. Intelligent tires and full life cycle management platforms have become a new track for value-added services.
For industry companies, only by embedding respect for safety, responsibility for the environment, and persistence in innovation in every detail can they not only become a manufacturer of tires and wheels in the grand narrative of driving the green transformation of the automotive industry, but also become a guardian of the low-carbon travel era and a co-builder of sustainable development, so that every wheel trace leads to a cleaner and safer future.
