Hankook Tire and Technology is South Korea’s largest tyre manufacturer and the sixth-largest globally by revenue, operating eight production plants across South Korea, Hungary, China, and Indonesia with annual global tyre sales in the tens of millions of units. The company published its 16th annual ESG Report in August 2025, covering FY2024 and 2025 performance and structured for the first time under the double materiality assessment guidelines of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) biodiversity framework. Hankook’s overarching sustainability framework is built on three pillars: Eco Value Chain, Sustainable Product, and Responsible Engagement, covering the full lifecycle from raw material sourcing to product end-of-life.
Hankook received CDP’s highest A score for climate change in January 2026, recognising its systematic GHG reduction programme across the full value chain, and obtained SBTi validation in 2023 for both its near-term 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets and its net-zero commitment for 2050. The company also received the FIA’s highest Three Star Environmental Accreditation in October 2024, the first tyre manufacturer to receive this recognition in the context of its role as exclusive tyre supplier to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
Source
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/esg/esg-report.html
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.631822.html
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/press-release?flt=5&tx_news_pi1
https://tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-receives-fia-three-star-environmental-accreditation
Sustainability Strategy and Goals
Hankook’s formal sustainability strategy aligns with all relevant UN SDGs, with primary operational linkages to SDG 7 (clean energy), SDG 9 (industry and innovation), SDG 12 (responsible consumption), SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 15 (life on land), and SDG 17 (partnerships). Its SBTi-validated 2050 Carbon Neutrality Roadmap stages the transition across four major initiatives: establishing a low-carbon management system, improving process energy use efficiency, expanding renewable energy, and introducing innovative reduction technologies. The ESG Committee under the Board of Directors, operational since 2021, defines and governs ESG-driven management and is supported by an ESG Strategy Committee and Steering Committee structure dating back to 2010.
Net Zero and Carbon Emissions
Hankook targets a 46.2% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2030 from a 2019 baseline and a 27.5% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030 from the same baseline, with net-zero emissions by 2050 as the final target. All targets are SBTi-validated and consistent with a 1.5°C warming pathway.
- Hankook achieved a 4.45% year-on-year reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions from manufacturing in 2023, representing the most recently confirmed single-year performance improvement in sources reviewed as of March 2026.
- CDP A score received in January 2026 confirms that Hankook’s climate governance, data quality, and GHG reduction programme are assessed as meeting the highest standard of completeness and credibility available through CDP’s climate disclosure framework.
- The 46.2% Scope 1 and 2 target by 2030 from a 2019 baseline is among the most ambitious near-term SBTi-validated targets among Asian tyre manufacturers, matched in ambition only by Goodyear’s 46% target for the same period.
- Hankook’s carbon neutrality roadmap executes through four stages: energy efficiency across manufacturing, renewable energy procurement expansion, process electrification, and innovative reduction technologies such as turquoise hydrogen carbon black development.
- Hankook participates in national research consortia in South Korea to validate carbon-reduction technologies and enhance the commercial readiness of sustainable material alternatives, accelerating the gap between laboratory and production-scale deployment.
Water Stewardship
Hankook manages water consumption across all eight production plants, with a focus on reducing withdrawal intensity per unit of output and maintaining full compliance with local and national wastewater discharge regulations at each site.
- Hankook’s 2024/25 ESG Report adopts TNFD-aligned biodiversity disclosure for the first time, explicitly covering water-related ecosystem dependencies at production sites and in the natural rubber supply chain in Indonesia.
- Hankook’s Indonesia plant, which processes natural rubber as a primary input, is specifically covered under the company’s nature footprint assessment framework, given the water stress risk profile of the Sumatra region.
- Water management at all production facilities is governed by the same ESG committee structure that oversees GHG and material sustainability, ensuring that water targets are formally integrated into board-level ESG performance tracking rather than managed independently at site level.
Regenerative Agriculture
Hankook’s Sustainable Natural Rubber Policy, first published in 2018, covers zero deforestation, land rights, community development, and environmental management across its entire NR supply chain. The company established a company-wide EUDR response committee in 2024 to build a comprehensive natural rubber supply chain management system aligned with the EU Deforestation Regulation.
- Hankook announced its Sustainable Natural Rubber Policy in 2018 and introduced the E.Circle eco-friendly circular economy strategy in the same year, embedding NR sourcing sustainability into a broader circular economy framework from the outset.
- The EUDR response committee, established in 2024, implements regular monitoring and reporting protocols for the full natural rubber supply chain, covering supplier-level deforestation risk assessment and geographic traceability from plantation to plant.
- Hankook’s 2024/25 ESG Report discloses supply chain ESG risk management as one of its eight major management issues for the year, confirming that NR supply chain governance is a board-level priority rather than an operational function.
- Hankook participates in GPSNR, applying GPSNR Policy Components as the baseline for NR procurement compliance, covering deforestation prevention, land rights, community engagement, and smallholder income improvement.
Deforestation and Biodiversity
Hankook is strengthening biodiversity-related disclosures in its 2024/25 ESG Report for the first time under TNFD guidelines, representing the most recently initiated biodiversity disclosure framework among major tyre manufacturers in this series. Its EUDR committee and NR traceability system form the operational backbone of deforestation prevention.
- Hankook’s 2024/25 ESG Report strengthens biodiversity disclosures in line with TNFD guidelines, covering nature-related financial risks and opportunities from both NR sourcing geographies and tyre production sites.
- The company’s Formula E partnership generates a specific biodiversity co-benefit: Hankook committed to recovering all used Formula E tyres through pyrolysis for tyre-to-tyre recycling, closing the circular loop on competition tyres and preventing ELT landfill from motorsport.
- Hankook’s social contribution initiatives specifically include marine ecosystem protection and biodiversity-related activities as community engagement outputs alongside employee development and climate protection.
- The Daejeon plant ISCC PLUS certification, achieved in December 2025, verifies that the replacement of fossil-based synthetic rubber with bio-circular polymers reduces environmental impact across the entire product lifecycle from raw material sourcing to manufacturing.
Packaging and Circular Economy
Hankook’s circular economy strategy, branded E.Circle and launched in 2018, targets full tyre value chain circularity from raw material acquisition through to ELT recycling and re-entry into new tyre production. Its FY2024 milestones include commercialising South Korea’s first tyre using chemically recycled PET fibre cords, mass-producing EV tyres with 77% ISCC PLUS-certified sustainable materials, and producing three types of ISCC PLUS-certified carbon black derived from waste tyre pyrolysis oil.
- The iON GT European replacement tyre integrates up to 77% certified sustainable materials under ISCC PLUS mass balance, incorporating bio-based silica, recycled PET textile cord, bio-circular synthetic rubber, rCB from used tyres, and plant-based oils and resins, earning top EU Tyre Label ratings.
- Hankook, in collaboration with Hyosung Advanced Materials and SK Chemicals, commercialised South Korea’s first tyre using chemically recycled PET fibre cords in 2024, creating a domestic circular material supply chain for a key structural tyre input.
- Hankook produced three types of ISCC PLUS-certified carbon black derived from waste tyre pyrolysis oil in 2024, establishing that rCB from its own ELT stream can be certified under international mass balance standards for re-entry into production.
- A concept tyre with 81% sustainable materials was presented at IAA Mobility 2025, setting the highest sustainable material content milestone achieved by any Hankook product to date and confirming the technical pathway toward 100% content.
- The iON Race tyre for FIA Formula E, from which the iON evo OE tyre derives, uses 45% sustainable raw materials and is targeted for full post-use pyrolysis recovery, creating a closed circular loop for all competition tyres consumed in the Formula E season.
Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing
Hankook’s human rights management framework, embedded in its Responsible Engagement ESG pillar, covers all employees, supply chain partners, and community stakeholders globally, aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Respect for human rights is one of Hankook’s eight major management issues identified in the 2024/25 ESG Report double materiality assessment.
- Since 2023, Hankook has implemented internal evaluations of Board of Directors’ performance to enhance board independence, strengthen expertise, and reinforce transparent governance, addressing a structural governance improvement required as the company targets CSRD-adjacent disclosure standards.
- Hankook’s supplier ESG risk management is formally one of the eight key management issues in the 2024/25 ESG Report, covering both environmental and social compliance requirements across the full supplier network.
- Hankook’s ESG Committee under the Board of Directors, operational since 2021, holds formal oversight responsibility for human rights policy compliance, supply chain risk management, and community impact monitoring across all global operations.
Community and Social Impact
Hankook’s community impact spans South Korea, Hungary, China, the United States, and Indonesia, with site-specific programmes aligned to local social priorities and the Responsible Engagement ESG pillar.
- Hankook’s social contribution initiatives cover global climate protection, marine ecosystem preservation, biodiversity-related activities, employee development, and mutual growth with local communities in both South Korea and international operating regions.
- Hankook’s Hungary plant (Rácalmás), the production site for the iON evo OE tyre for the Porsche Taycan, became the second ISCC PLUS-certified Hankook facility globally in 2023, creating a sustainable manufacturing operation that directly supports community employment in the Fejér County industrial region.
- Hankook’s Formula E partnership delivers social impact through gender equality advocacy, as Formula E’s operational values explicitly cover gender parity in motorsport, and Hankook’s FIA Three Star Accreditation recognises both climate and broader sustainability commitments including diversity.
Governance and Transparency
Hankook’s governance structure includes a Board-level ESG Committee (operational since 2021), an ESG Strategy Committee, and a Steering Committee, with Board performance evaluations for ESG competencies introduced in 2023 to strengthen independence and expertise. The 2024/25 ESG Report is produced under ESRS double materiality guidelines and TNFD biodiversity disclosure standards, representing the most advanced regulatory alignment in Hankook’s reporting history.
- Hankook’s CDP A score for climate change, received January 2026, is the highest CDP climate rating achievable and confirms that Hankook’s governance, data infrastructure, and GHG management are externally assessed as best-in-class.
- The 16th consecutive annual ESG Report, published August 2025, has evolved from a basic CSR report when established in 2009 to a full ESRS-aligned double materiality disclosure with TNFD biodiversity integration, confirming sustained and progressive transparency improvement over 16 years.
- Hankook’s governance improvements since 2023, including Board performance evaluations for ESG competencies, reflect the company’s preparation for mandatory CSRD-scope disclosures as a Korea-listed manufacturer with European operations and OE supply relationships.
Technology and Innovation
Hankook’s sustainable technology portfolio spans six active innovation programmes: bio-circular synthetic rubber from bio-circular feedstocks, bio-based silica from grain waste, recycled PET cord via chemically recycled fibre, rCB from waste tyre pyrolysis, turquoise hydrogen-based carbon black in co-development with ROTOBOOST, and circular silica in collaboration with Solvay.
- Hankook signed an MOU with ROTOBOOST in November 2025 to co-develop low-CO2 carbon material based on turquoise hydrogen, which splits natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon without combustion, producing near-zero-CO2 carbon black as a direct substitute for conventional carbon black, which accounts for approximately 25% of tyre raw material input by weight.
- Hankook’s collaboration with Solvay targets circular silica development, building on Continental’s existing deployment of Solvay’s rice husk ash silica to advance the next generation of silica with a fully circular material sourcing pathway.
- The iON evo OE tyre for the Porsche Taycan, first ISCC PLUS-certified OE tyre in the industry for passenger car original equipment application (confirmed May 2024), combines bio-based silica from grain waste, recycled PET textile cord, bio-circular synthetic rubber, rCB, and natural resin, achieving 45% sustainable materials without performance compromise.
- Hankook produced three ISCC PLUS-certified rCB types from waste tyre pyrolysis oil in 2024, and has committed to recovering and pyrolysing all used Formula E tyres to create building blocks for new iON Race tyres, closing the tyre-to-tyre circular loop in an active competition context.
- The IAA Mobility 2025 concept tyre at 81% sustainable materials is Hankook’s most advanced product development milestone and defines the technical gap remaining toward the 100% target as less than 20% of material inputs, concentrated in the hardest-to-substitute categories of bonding chemistry and certain steel cord coatings.
Global Partnerships and Advocacy
Hankook is a member of the Tire Industry Project (TIP), GPSNR, and maintains an active open innovation programme with external technology partners including ROTOBOOST (turquoise hydrogen carbon black), Solvay (circular silica), Hyosung Advanced Materials (recycled PET cord), and SK Chemicals (chemical PET recycling).
- Hankook’s Formula E partnership, as exclusive tyre supplier to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship since 2023, positions the company as the primary sustainable tyre innovation platform in global electric motorsport, using competition conditions to accelerate circular material development under FIA scrutiny.
- Hankook’s FIA Three Star Environmental Accreditation (October 2024) is the highest-level environmental certification issued by the FIA and validates Hankook’s holistic sustainability approach across climate change, circular materials, and tyre lifecycle management.
- Hankook supplied high-performance Ventus and Dynapro rally tyres with up to 31% sustainable materials as exclusive official tyre supplier to the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship, demonstrating simultaneous sustainability and motorsport performance credentials across two separate FIA championship series.
Source
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/esg/eco-value-chain.html
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/press-release?flt=5
https://tireindustryproject.org/business/co2/
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.631822.html
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.632289.html
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-release/news/hankook-signs-mou-with-rotoboost-to-jointly-develop-turquoise-hydrogen
https://www.tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-earns-iscc-plus-certification-for-daejeon-plant
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-release/news/daejeon-plant-becomes-third-hankook-facility-to-receive-iscc-plus
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.630157.html
https://www.tiretechnologyinternational.com/news/new-tires-news/new-ion-evo-unveiled-with-iscc-plus-certification.html
https://tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-receives-fia-three-star-environmental-accreditation
https://www.hankook-motorsports.com/en/formula-e/sustainability.html
https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/425307
Progress vs. Target Tracker
Source
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/esg/eco-value-chain.html
https://tireindustryproject.org/business/co2/
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/press-release?flt=5
https://www.tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-earns-iscc-plus-certification-for-daejeon-plant
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.630157.html
Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
- iON GT at 77% ISCC PLUS sustainable materials: The Hankook iON GT European replacement EV tyre integrates up to 77% certified sustainable materials under ISCC PLUS mass balance, combining bio-based silica from grain waste, recycled PET textile cord, bio-circular synthetic rubber, rCB from used tyres, plant-based oils, and natural resins, while earning top EU Tyre Label ratings in wet braking and rolling resistance. This is the highest sustainable material content commercially available replacement tyre from any manufacturer in the European market as of March 2026.
- Turquoise hydrogen carbon black with ROTOBOOST: Hankook signed an MOU with ROTOBOOST in November 2025 to co-develop carbon material from turquoise hydrogen, a pyrolysis-based natural gas splitting process that produces hydrogen and solid carbon without combustion and with near-zero CO2 output. Carbon black accounts for approximately 25% of tyre mass, making this the most structurally significant single-material decarbonisation lever in Hankook’s long-term roadmap, with no commercial equivalent yet in production anywhere in the tyre industry.
- Chemically recycled PET cord via Hyosung and SK Chemicals: South Korea’s first tyre using chemically recycled PET fibre cords, commercialised in 2024 in collaboration with Hyosung Advanced Materials and SK Chemicals, closes a domestic supply chain loop for one of the key structural inputs in tyre carcass manufacturing. Chemical recycling, as opposed to mechanical recycling, restores the polymer to virgin-equivalent properties, enabling circular PET without the performance compromise of mechanically recycled fibre.
- iON Race to iON evo product innovation pipeline via Formula E: The iON Race tyre for FIA Formula E GEN3 competition at 45% sustainable materials directly informed the commercial iON evo OE tyre for the Porsche Taycan, the first ISCC PLUS-certified OE tyre for passenger car original equipment globally. Hankook uses Formula E as an accelerated product development environment, converting competition technology into commercial production within a shorter cycle than traditional OE development timelines.
- Circular silica development with Solvay: Hankook’s collaboration with Solvay targets the next generation of circular silica, building on Solvay’s existing rice husk ash silica (deployed at Continental) to develop a fully circular silica sourcing pathway for Hankook’s product range. Silica accounts for a significant share of tyre tread compound, making circular silica one of the highest-volume material substitution opportunities outside of carbon black and rubber in the tyre industry.
Source
https://tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-earns-iscc-plus-certification-for-daejeon-plant
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.632289.html
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-release/news/hankook-signs-mou-with-rotoboost-to-jointly-develop-turquoise-hydrogen
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.630157.html
https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/425307
https://evmagazine.com/news/can-hankook-manufacture-circular-and-sustainable-ev-tyres
Measurable Impacts
Hankook’s most independently verified sustainability impacts are concentrated in sustainable product content, CDP climate rating, ISCC PLUS certifications, and FIA environmental accreditation. The iON GT at 77% ISCC PLUS-certified sustainable materials in mass production is the highest confirmed sustainable content in a commercially available replacement EV tyre in the European market as of March 2026. The CDP A rating received in January 2026 places Hankook in the same category as Michelin, the only two tyre manufacturers in this series confirmed at CDP’s highest climate scoring tier as of that date.
- Scope 1 and 2 manufacturing GHG emissions were reduced 4.45% year-on-year in 2023, against a 46.2% reduction target from the 2019 baseline required by 2030.
- Three ISCC PLUS plant certifications (Geumsan 2021, Rácalmás 2023, Daejeon 2025) span three of Hankook’s eight global production sites, covering South Korean, European, and OE product manufacturing under certified sustainable material supply chain documentation.
- Three types of ISCC PLUS-certified rCB produced from waste tyre pyrolysis oil in 2024 confirm that Hankook’s circular carbon black programme has moved from R&D to independently certified commercial production status.
- The FIA Three Star Environmental Accreditation (October 2024) is the highest environmental certification the FIA awards, and Hankook is the only tyre manufacturer confirmed to hold this accreditation as of March 2026, recognising its whole-value-chain circular tyre approach in Formula E.
- Hankook’s iON evo received the industry’s first ISCC PLUS certification logo on a tyre sidewall for passenger car OE application, marking a commercial transparency milestone in which sustainability certification is customer-visible at point of sale.
Source
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/laufenn-press-releases/press-release?flt=5
https://tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-receives-fia-three-star-environmental-accreditation
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.630157.html
https://www.tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-earns-iscc-plus-certification-for-daejeon-plant
https://www.sustainabilityreports.com/hankook-tire-and-technology/2024/esg-report
Challenges and Areas for Improvement
Scope 1 and 2 emissions trajectory is Hankook’s most quantitatively exposed risk. The SBTi-validated target requires a 46.2% reduction from the 2019 baseline by 2030, and the most recent confirmed single-year reduction is 4.45% year-on-year in 2023. Achieving 46.2% in six years from the 2019 baseline at a 4.45% annual pace would require approximately 10 additional years, not six, meaning the current execution pace is structurally insufficient for the 2030 target without significant acceleration in renewable energy procurement and process decarbonisation across all eight production sites.
Scope 3 emissions quantification and disclosure represent the second structural gap. Hankook’s 2024 CDP corporate questionnaire explicitly acknowledges that Scope 3 is not yet managed with the same specificity as Scope 1 and 2, and no standalone Scope 3 reduction figure against the 27.5% by 2030 target has been confirmed in publicly available sources reviewed as of March 2026. This is a disclosure gap that creates investor uncertainty about whether the SBTi-validated Scope 3 target is being actively managed or merely projected.
Absolute water and waste reduction targets, which form a standard component of peer manufacturer sustainability plans (Continental, Bridgestone, Michelin), are not separately confirmed with quantitative milestones in Hankook’s publicly available 2024/25 disclosures reviewed for this analysis. This creates a gap in the comparability of Hankook’s environmental performance against the four manufacturers in this series and places Hankook below the current peer disclosure norm for operational environmental metrics.
Source
https://tireindustryproject.org/business/co2/
https://www.hankooktire.com/content/dam/hankooktire/global/pdf/esg/esg_한국타이어esg/2024_CDP
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/esg/eco-value-chain.html
https://www.sustainabilityreports.com/hankook-tire-and-technology/2024/esg-report
Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
Hankook’s 2050 vision centres on three converging goals: net-zero emissions across the full value chain, 100% circular tyre production from raw material to ELT recycling, and full ISCC PLUS certified sustainable material content in all product lines. The 2030 milestones serve as the first commercial verification checkpoint: 46.2% Scope 1 and 2 reduction, 27.5% Scope 3 reduction, 100% EUDR-compliant NR supply chain, and an unspecified but operationally implied 100% sustainable material content target for the iON EV tyre product family.
The turquoise hydrogen carbon black programme with ROTOBOOST, if it reaches commercial scale by 2030, would represent the most structurally significant single decarbonisation leap available to Hankook. Carbon black currently sourced from petroleum represents approximately 25% of tyre weight; replacing it with turquoise hydrogen-derived carbon at near-zero CO2 would reduce compound-level emissions for every tyre produced. The MOU was signed in November 2025, placing the programme at development initiation stage with a 2030 demonstration target implied by the 2050 net-zero roadmap architecture.
Source
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/esg/eco-value-chain.html
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-release/news/hankook-signs-mou-with-rotoboost-to-jointly-develop-turquoise-hydrogen
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.631822.html
Comparisons to Industry Competitors
Competitor reports:
https://www.michelin.com/en/sustainability/company/planet/climate-action
https://www.bridgestone.com/responsibilities/esgdata/
https://corporate.goodyear.com/content/dam/goodyear-corp/documents/responsibility/goodyear-crr-2024-final.pdf
https://annualreport.continental.com/2024/en/report/sustainability-report.php
What to Watch: 12 to 18 Month Indicators
Three specific signals through mid-2027 will determine whether Hankook’s sustainability standing advances from a product innovation leader to a fully credible operational sustainability performer:
- Scope 1 and 2 reduction rate acceleration in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 ESG Reports: Hankook’s 4.45% year-on-year reduction in 2023 must accelerate to approximately 6 to 8 percentage points per year to reach the 46.2% target by 2030. The 2024/25 ESG Report, published in August 2025, will be the first data point confirming whether the renewable energy procurement expansion and process efficiency programmes are delivering above the 4.45% annual pace. Any result below 5% year-on-year in 2024 would confirm that the 2030 SBTi target is at material risk of being missed, with significant implications for CDP and SBTi credibility ratings.
- Turquoise hydrogen carbon black first demonstration output with ROTOBOOST: The MOU with ROTOBOOST was signed in November 2025, placing the co-development programme at initiation stage. A confirmed demonstration carbon black batch, materials characterisation test result, or tyre prototype using ROTOBOOST-derived carbon black in 2026 to 2027 would confirm that the programme has progressed from concept to laboratory validation, the critical transition from MOU to active R&D. No confirmed output by mid-2027 would raise questions about whether the MOU represents a genuine technical programme or a reputational positioning announcement. Given that carbon black is 25% of tyre mass, this programme is too structurally important to remain at MOU stage without demonstrated progress.
- Fourth ISCC PLUS plant certification and iON Race full pyrolysis recovery confirmation: Hankook currently holds three ISCC PLUS plant certifications out of eight global production sites. Certifying the Rácalmás Hungary plant for expanded iON product lines, or confirming ISCC PLUS at the Indonesia or China facilities, would confirm that the certification programme is systematically covering the full production network rather than being concentrated in selected flagship sites. Separately, Hankook’s commitment to recover all used Formula E tyres through pyrolysis for tyre-to-tyre recycling has been stated but not confirmed with a recovery volume or recovery rate figure. A confirmed recovery volume or a first published tyre-to-tyre rCB output from Formula E tyre pyrolysis would establish the world’s first verifiable closed-loop circular tyre supply chain in a competitive motorsport context.
Source
https://tireindustryproject.org/business/co2/
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-release/news/hankook-signs-mou-with-rotoboost-to-jointly-develop-turquoise-hydrogen
https://www.tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-earns-iscc-plus-certification-for-daejeon-plant
https://www.sustainabilityreports.com/hankook-tire-and-technology/2024/esg-report
Hankook occupies a strategically differentiated position in the global tyre sustainability landscape that no other manufacturer in this series holds simultaneously: the highest commercially available replacement EV tyre sustainable content (77% iON GT), a CDP A climate rating confirmed in January 2026, the only FIA Three Star Environmental Accreditation in the industry, dual FIA championship exclusivity (Formula E and WRC), and the most advanced alternative carbon black programme currently in active co-development through the ROTOBOOST turquoise hydrogen MOU. That combination of product leadership, motorsport sustainability credentials, and raw material innovation pipeline is unique in the industry.
The operational execution gap is equally specific. A 4.45% annual Scope 1 and 2 reduction pace against a 46.2% target requiring 6 to 8 percentage points per year, and the absence of confirmed Scope 3 data against a 27.5% SBTi target, mean that Hankook’s product sustainability narrative is running significantly ahead of its manufacturing decarbonisation performance. The asymmetry is not unusual for a company at Hankook’s stage of sustainability maturity, but it is the defining vulnerability in its 2030 credibility position.
Three strategic takeaways for practitioners benchmarking or replicating Hankook’s approach:
- Use the iON GT at 77% ISCC PLUS as the commercial sustainable EV tyre procurement standard in Europe: The iON GT is the highest sustainable material content commercially available replacement EV tyre in the European market as of March 2026, with EU Tyre Label top ratings confirming that performance has not been compromised. Fleet sustainability managers and OEM procurement teams specifying EV-specific replacement tyres in Europe should benchmark all new tyre procurement against the iON GT’s 77% ISCC PLUS content level and request equivalent ISCC documentation from competing suppliers.
- Monitor the ROTOBOOST turquoise hydrogen carbon black programme as the most consequential single raw material innovation in the tyre industry: Carbon black accounts for approximately 25% of tyre weight, and its conventional production from petroleum or coal combustion is one of the largest contributors to Scope 3 upstream emissions across the entire tyre value chain. If ROTOBOOST’s turquoise hydrogen process achieves commercial-scale carbon black production at acceptable cost and quality, it would represent a systemic decarbonisation of the tyre industry’s most used input material. No other programme in any of the five manufacturers in this series targets this problem at this structural level.
- Treat Hankook’s Formula E tyre-to-tyre pyrolysis commitment as the industry’s circular economy proof-of-concept test case: Hankook has publicly committed to recovering and pyrolysing all used Formula E competition tyres to extract raw materials for new iON Race tyre production. The Formula E season provides a bounded, trackable, auditable ELT stream with known volumes, known compositions, and FIA oversight. When confirmed with a verified recovery volume, this will be the first independently auditable tyre-to-tyre circular loop in active commercial operation anywhere in the global tyre industry, and it will set the evidentiary standard for what circular material claims in motorsport and commercial tyre production must demonstrate to be credible.
Source
https://www.hankooktire.com/global/en/company/media-list/media-detail.631822.html
https://www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com/press-release/news/hankook-signs-mou-with-rotoboost-to-jointly-develop-turquoise-hydrogen
https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/425307
https://tyre-trends.com/news/hankook-tire-receives-fia-three-star-environmental-accreditation
