Inside Apollo Tyres' Bid for Carbon Neutrality by 2050

Founded in 1972, Apollo Tyres is a specialist in tyre manufacturing and sales, with corporate headquarters in Gurgaon, India.

The organisation has grown considerably since its inception, expanding operations to serve customers in more than 100 countries, from a global manufacturing network of seven production facilities across Asia and Europe.

Apollo delivers a wide range of products for vehicles including passenger cars, light trucks and two-wheelers through its primary brands Apollo and Vredestein.

Now, the business is advancing towards its goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with its Sustainable Procurement Vision, is centred on reducing environmental and social impacts through responsible sourcing.

As part of this vision, Apollo Tyres has set a target to use 40% sustainable raw materials, which includes renewable and recycled materials by 2030. The strategy involves treating suppliers as long-term partners, while prioritising ethical conduct and fair competition.

Sustainable procurement and partnerships

Apollo Tyres collaborates with members of its supply chain to enhance material quality and reliability, while mitigating environmental and social risks.

Its approach is guided by several key principles, including promoting transparency and accountability, and increasing the use of recycled and renewable materials.

The guiding principles also involve maintaining high environmental health and safety standards, integrating human rights standards and ensuring decent work conditions. These conditions align with Apollo Tyres' 'One Family' culture.

Furthermore, Apollo Tyres aims to improve natural rubber sustainability using GPSNR guidelines and promote continuous improvement across its raw material supply chain.

Manufacturing tyres with sustainable materials

In line with its sustainability roadmap, Apollo Tyres has developed concept agriculture tyres containing 75% sustainable materials. These products feature nine key compounding ingredients across different tyre components.

This includes recycled rubber, sustainable carbon black derived from end-of-life tyres, bio-based oil, recycled nylon and bead wire processed with a higher recycled content.

The concept tyres utilise sustainable natural rubber from suppliers that have made public commitments to sourcing practices, are traceable to the plantation, in accordance with Apollo Tyres' sustainable natural rubber policy.

"This is a major milestone in the sustainability journey of Apollo Tyres," comments P K Mohamed, Chief Advisor, R&D at Apollo Tyres.

Being the early movers in this space, especially in India, and with investments in R&D and manufacturing towards achieving the 40% sustainable material target by 2030, we have been able to develop this tyre with 75% sustainable materials, which is now being tested extensively before being commercialised."

Engaging the global supply chain

To foster industry-wide progress, Apollo Tyres recently hosted its Sustainable Procurement Summit and Awards 2025. The event brought together more than 800 supplier representatives from around 20 countries, providing a global platform to accelerate progress towards a responsible and circular value chain.

The summit began with an outline of the Apollo Tyres' Sustainability Roadmap 2030, a long-term commitment to embedding sustainability throughout its business operations.

Speakers at the event highlighted Apollo Tyres' vision for sustainable procurement and reinforced its expectations for supply chain partners.

A subsequent panel discussion explored how emerging regulations and changing customer expectations are shaping corporate sustainability strategies. Panellists shared views on navigating policy changes, enhancing transparency and accelerating collaborative innovation.

Apollo Tyres also recognised contributions from its supply chain partners, presenting awards for exemplary work in environmental stewardship, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. Winners included Birla Carbon, Cabot, EQ Rubber, Hyosung, Milliken, OCCL, Performance Additives, Solvay, Synthos, Teck Bee Hang and Xingda.

Sunam Sarkar, President and Chief Business Officer at Apollo Tyres, adds: "The Sustainable Procurement Summit and Awards 2025 reflect our belief that creating a resilient and responsible value chain requires collaboration, transparency and a shared purpose. We are proud to recognise partners who are advancing sustainability in meaningful ways."