Tire makers earn Dow Jones sustainability recognition

New York – Pirelli & C SpA, Nokian Tyre plc and Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd. are among the tire manufacturers named in the latest Dow Jones Sustainability World and Europe Indexes, which is conducted annually by RobecoSam and S&P Dow Jones.

Nokian earned the honour for the third year in a row. The Finnish tire maker said out of 21 of the criteria used for the 2019 assessment, the company scored higher than the average of the global Auto Components sector in 20 of them.

"We are proud to be included in the top 10% of the world's most sustainable listed companies," Nokian President and CEO Hille Korhonen said.

"Sustainability is at the core of our business and the Nokian Tyres brand. We are proud of the acknowledgement, and our whole global team continues to strive towards the goals we have set to our sustainability work."

Pirelli earned the top spot globally in the automobile and components sector with 85 points, nearly 50 points higher than the sector average of 36 points.

Pirelli and Nokian were the only two to be listed in the Europe index.

Other tire makers listed include Bridgestone Corp., and Hankook in the Asia-Pacific Index; and Hankook in the Korea Index.

Nokian said it aims to be the leader in sustainability "by working continuously for better corporate sustainability regarding products as well as the company's operations."'

Last year, Nokian said it met its goal of reducing C02 emissions of tires by reducing average rolling resistance by an average of 7%.

Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones sustainability indexes are among the key stock market indexes with regard to sustainability.

RobecoSAM invited more than 3,500 of the world's largest publicly traded companies from 61 industrial sectors to participate in the sustainability assessment, which analysed economic, environmental and social factors.

Based on the assessment, the top 10% were named in the DJSI World index as the most sustainable companies in the world.