Pirelli's work and research on the road to sustainable natural rubber, with the smallest possible environmental and social footprint, has recently resulted in another outstanding accomplishment. The Pirelli P Zero tyre for the new BMW X5 Plug-in-Hybrid has been awarded the Forest Stewardship Council™ certification, as it is made with FSCTM certified rayon and natural rubber, which have been managed in a sustainable way across the entire supply chain.
This is the first tyre in the world which can boast the certificate issued by this international organisation that has promoted responsible and sustainable management of forests and plantations for almost thirty years.
Established in 1993 with the aim of protecting greenery across the globe, the Forest Stewardship Council™ is an independent, non-profit organisation, which boasts over nine hundred members, including other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and leading environmental groups (from WWF to Legambiente), as well as researchers, technicians, companies in the wood industry, forest owners, large-scale retail groups, commercial companies and members of civil societies. It was officially founded at a meeting in Toronto, Canada, in October 1993 and its headquarters have been in Bonn, Germany since 2003. FSC™ Italia has been in existence since 2001.
In addition to setting standards for proper forest management, the Forest Stewardship Council™ is committed to supporting anyone who is interested in FSC™ certification, to promote the brand and to ensure that it is used correctly.
One of its core activities is the exchange of expertise and open dialogue among all subjects and stakeholders involved in forest management. The NGO promotes studies and projects at international level to improve environmental and social sustainability, and has created standards that must be met in order to achieve certification by all links in the supply chain, from plantation to processors, right up to the tyre manufacturer making use of the material, as in the case of Pirelli. The latter is independent and third-party, as inspections are carried out by more than thirty certification bodies worldwide.
One of the main activities of this NGO is to assign the FSC™ mark to products originating from responsibly managed contexts, according to both strict and fair environmental, social and economic standards.
The same standards that Pirelli has been committed to observing across its entire chain for years, following the principles listed in its Policy on the Sustainable Management of Natural Rubber. Accordingly, the FSC™ certification obtained for the new tyre, produced at the Pirelli factory in Rome (Georgia, in the United States), is a guarantee of the right direction the company has taken.
