Alina Oprea • 6 October, 2023 at 5:05 PM
Nokian Tyres has raised the SDG flag to support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The company has joined the SDG flag campaign at its factories in Nokia, Finland, Dayton, US, and Oradea, Romania as a symbol of its commitment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The SDG Flag Day is a global campaign to raise awareness of the UN's work for sustainability, held annually on the anniversary of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and celebrated this year on September 25th.
“Nokian Tyres is a frontrunner in sustainability in the tire industry, and sustainability is one of the cornerstones of the company's strategy. One of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is Climate action. Nokian Tyres has done extensive work to reduce its factory emissions, and the company's emissions per production ton are the lowest in the industry. The factory in Oradea will be an important step in reaching even more ambitious climate goals, as it will be the first zero CO2 emission factory in the tire industry”, according to the company.
The location in Romania supports this objective, as it allows the utilization of green energy produced near the factory as well as offers access to railroads and proximity to Central European clients for whom the tires at the Oradea factory will be produced.
“We strongly believe that our ambitious sustainability goals also have a genuine impact on the whole tire industry. The Oradea factory for example will be a benchmark for future sustainable tire production in several ways beyond zero CO2 emissions, such as employee health, safety, and well-being”, says Susanna Tusa, VP, of Romania Operations from Nokian Tyres.
Eight years ago, the member countries of the UN adopted the UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which guide global action on sustainable development until 2030. The SDGs were created to promote prosperity while protecting the environment and provide a tool to examine sustainable business in the long term. Companies can advance these goals by setting sustainability targets that contribute to the transformation.
UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative, supporting companies to do business responsibly and take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, emphasizing collaboration and innovation. Nokian Tyres has been a member of the UN Global Compact since 2015.
The seven most important SDGs for Nokian Tyres and the company's sustainability goals and actions related to them:
SDG 3: Good health and well-being. Nokian Tyres improves road safety through the continuous development of wet and ice grip. Nokian Tyres also actively promotes occupational health, and the goal is to minimize the number of occupational accidents.
SDG 5: Gender equality. The company Code of Conduct has been updated, and regular audits are done to ensure the policies are followed in the supply chain.
SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth. Nokian Tyres aims to audit all sustainability high-risk suppliers. By the end of 2022, 83% had been audited.
SDG 9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure. Nokian Tyres' goal is to increase the share of recycled or renewable raw materials in tires to 50% by 2030.
SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities. Nokian Tyres improves road safety by producing tires with enhanced wet grip and handling.
SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production. In 2022, 100% of Nokian Tyres' production waste was recycled or utilized. Almost 100% of used tires are recycled in the Nordic countries and around 95% in Europe.
SDG 13: Climate action. Nokian Tyres was the first tire manufacturer to have its emission reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative in 2020. The company is committed to Net Zero by 2050 and has already reduced the CO2 emissions per production ton by 43% between 2015-2022.
The company is also recruiting some 550 specialists to the factory.
Nokian Tyres has started the recruitment in Oradea and in the surrounding Bihor County area. During 2023 recruitment will focus on white-collar employees, recruitment for production staff will begin in the first half of 2024. The total headcount of the Romanian factory will be about 550 people.
People interested in being part of the Nokian Tyres Oradea project can do so by visiting the company's careers page where they have the possibility to upload their own CV and fill in the form online.