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“Global value chain collaboration fuels progress toward sustainable natural rubber.”
General Motors’ vision is to create a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion, but we know it cannot be accomplished alone. We’re bringing our suppliers along in our vision to help improve the sustainability of our supply chain.
In 2017, General Motors announced a focus on sourcing sustainable natural rubber for tires. We continued to make progress in 2018 by helping bring together the automotive industry and global natural rubber stakeholders to encourage the movement to help transform the rubber supply chain.
The first General Assembly of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber took place on March 21, 2019, in Singapore with General Motors participating as a proud founding member. GPSNR is an independent, multi-stakeholder platform developed to lead improvements in socioeconomic and environmental performance of the natural rubber value chain.
General Motors focuses on sourcing sustainable natural rubber for tires.
The GPSNR was formed after a series of global meetings between tire manufacturers and other rubber users, suppliers, processors, automakers and NGOs working to identify a comprehensive set of priorities for the natural rubber supply chain. It will seek to align standards to help protect human rights, uphold fair business practices, protect biodiversity and water resources and improve yields, while increasing supply chain transparency and traceability.
Rubber production and its economic impact are important worldwide, as 85 percent of natural rubber comes from the work of 6 million farmers, most operating at a small scale. And, thanks to General Motors’ connection with the World Wildlife Fund, we fully understand the consequences of rubber production. For example, it’s a leading contributor to deforestation, especially in Southeast Asia, where 90 percent of the world’s natural rubber originates.
Members of our global purchasing and supply chain, supplier quality, product development and sustainability teams joined other corporate partners from the tire industry and NGOs to trace the value chain in Southeast Asia from rubber plantations, dealers and processors all the way to a tire manufacturing plant.
“Meeting some of the farmers who make up the more than 84,000 natural rubber farms and actually tapping a rubber tree was a revelation for our team,” said Matt Wilson, global commodity team lead for tires at General Motors. “We source more than 30 million tires each year. Understanding where and how tires are produced instills greater focus on ensuring ethical business practices are followed in our supply chain and in the industry.”
What’s next? The GPSNR is working to define the objectives and action plans of the organization as all stakeholders work toward the goal of a globally sustainable natural rubber industry.
For more information, see GM’s Sustainability Report.