The Yokohama Rubber Group sells products using both natural and chemically composed materials including natural rubber and water. All of these materials are made from resources available on our planet, which are by no means infinite. Therefore, we believe that it is important that we should address the challenges of delivering products that will please customers and society, while minimizing material usage, promoting the sales of recycled products (such as retread tires), and using renewable or recycled materials whenever possible.

The Yokohama Rubber Group has presented its environmental philosophy in the "Yokohama Rubber Basic Environmental Policy" and "Yokohama Rubber Environmental Policy", will work to develop and procure raw materials in a manner that reduces environmental impacts and minimizes material usage in accordance with the "Yokohama Rubber Group Action Guidelines".

Long-term target: 100% sustainable raw materials usage by 2050
Mid-term target: At least 40% renewable/recycled raw material usage by 2030

We promote the development and use of raw materials that have least impact on the environment and society through the following initiatives in order to continue our business.
We also have a system to procure sustainably-available raw materials that will have the lowest environmental and social impacts throughout their life cycles.

We have long been promoting the use of renewable and recycled raw materials as part of our efforts to realize a recycling-oriented circular economy. In addition to the use of recycled rubber, which we have been actively working on, we are now expanding the use of a wider variety of recycled and renewable raw materials, including wires made by melting and reusing scrap iron, silica made from plant-derived and inedible rice husks, and resins derived from natural materials.
In 2024, we used 361,000 tons of renewable and recycled raw materials globally, accounting for 29.7% of our total raw material usage.
Towards realizing a 40% usage rate of renewable and recycled materials by 2030, we explore and utilize innovative recycled and renewable raw materials, while further increasing the use rate of existing recycled and renewable raw materials, with the aim of solving environmental challenges our planet is facing.

Zeon Corporation and The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. have started constructing a bench facility*1 to demonstrate technology for producing butadiene from ethanol derived from plant-based and other sustainable materials with high efficiency. The facility will be installed at Zeon’s Tokuyama Plant (Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) and is scheduled to begin operating in 2026.
This initiative is proudly supported by the Development of Technology for Producing Raw Materials for Plastics Using CO2 and Other Sources, one of NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund Projects.
It will enable the production of a certain amount of butadiene and facilitate the collection of various data that will be used to establish mass production.
The demonstration experiment at the new bench facility will demonstrate the technology to convert ethanol obtained from plant-based and other sustainable materials into butadiene using a highly efficient catalyst. It will be the first step in establishing the technology’s use for the mass production of synthetic rubber from plant-based and other sustainable materials. Zeon will develop a prototype polybutadiene rubber (butadiene rubber) from the butadiene produced at the bench facility, and Yokohama Rubber will develop prototype tires using the butadiene rubber and conduct driving tests using the tires to collect data needed for a more large-scale demonstration of the technology.
Zeon and Yokohama Rubber will continue to collaborate on projects that will make use of both companies’ wealth of technologies and know-how to promote a circular economy and carbon neutrality in the tire and rubber industries and help realize a sustainable society.

Yokohama Rubber supplied its GEOLANDAR brand of tires for SUVs and pickup trucks as the official tire for the FIA Extreme H World Cup (hereafter, “Extreme H”), a new Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) official World Cup race and the world’s first hydrogen motorsport. We also supplied its GEOLANDAR for the Extreme E off-road race for electric vehicles, which was held on October 4-5, also in Saudi Arabia.
The Extreme H and Extreme E racing series have been created to demonstrate and promote the use of next-generation technologies that contribute to the realization of a sustainable future and to raise environmental awareness. Furthermore, both series promote gender parity in motorsports.
All Extreme H teams will use the specially developed Pioneer 25 racing car which is equipped with a state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cell.
This year eight teams from the UK, Sweden, Austria, and Spain participated in Extreme H, with the vehicles driven by world top-class drivers (1 male and 1 female on each team).
Extreme E, the forerunner to Extreme H, was launched in 2021. Extreme E races featured the Odyssey 21, a specially developed high-performance electric vehicle (EV), and all Extreme H teams also participated in the race, which were the Final Lap for this outgoing championship, as it prepared for its hydrogen future. As will be the case with Extreme H, all Extreme E teams had one male driver and one female driver.
In support of the concept behind both racing series, Yokohama Rubber will supply a prototype tire based on its GEOLANDAR X-AT all-terrain tire. Yokohama Rubber has increased the prototype’s renewable & recycled raw materials content ratio to 38%. It also features strengthened durability essential for heavy hydrogen-powered and EV off-road vehicles.

Yokohama Rubber has renewed its contract as an Official Tire Partner and supplier of the control tires for the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship series, continuing a relationship began in 2016. Under the new contract, we will supply our ADVAN racing tires through the 2030 season and pursue technological developments and marketing activities that will promote SUPER FORMULA’s continued development.
In 2023, Yokohama Rubber joined the "SUPER FORMULA NEXT50" project promoted by the Japan Race Promotion Inc. (JRP). We have since developed and supplied racing tires with an increased proportion of renewable and recycled materials. By 2025, we have achieved a high renewable & recycled raw materials content ratio of about 46% * on average across our dry and wet tire lineups.

This long-term contract extension is driven by a shared vision for the further evolution of SUPER FORMULA. Through this collaboration with JRP, we aim to accelerate technological development and strengthen our marketing initiatives.
Regarding "further technological development," we will deepen the sustainability of our tires by increasing the ratio of renewable and recycled materials, pursue superior drivability (performance), and explore future tire concepts. To "strengthen marketing activities," we will expand promotional initiatives in collaboration with JRP to drive the further growth of SUPER FORMULA as a premier entertainment event.
The 2025 supply tires feature a new plant-derived oil for both dry and wet tires.
Furthermore, the wet tires now utilize mass-balanced synthetic rubber, similar to the dry tires, and incorporate newly adopted silica derived from rice husks.
Plant-derived compounds, recycled steel cord, and recycled rubber, which have been used previously, continue to be employed for both dry and wet tires.
Yokohama Rubber will continue to pursue technological development that enhances both the proportion of renewable and recycled materials and driving performance, contributing to the realization of sustainable motorsports.
Furthermore, the supplied tires are produced using renewable energy electricity on the motorsports tire production line at the Mishima Plant.

Similarly, to the previous year, recycled rubber was mainly used for ballast belts with its use rate being 2.9% by weight in FY2025. We are also working to promote the adoption of recycled carbon and rubber raw materials recycled from waste tires and other rubber waste.
The plastic mold material used in the hose manufacturing process, which are thermoplastic resins, are crushed and re-melted for reuse. However, the powder generated in the crushing process used to be discarded as waste. To address this issue, we now have a highly controlled two-stage crushing process, of which first stage yields crushed particles with much larger diameters than fine powder that quickly scatters.
The finer powder generated in the second crushing stage is collected and reused, carrying the traceability information as that of the main crushed resin.

We view responding to the environmental impact of tire and road wear particles (TRWP) generated during driving and 6PPD (an antiozonant) used in tires as a vital management challenge.
We are actively participating in scientific impact assessments and the establishment of standardized evaluation methodologies through collaboration with industry associations, including the Tire Industry Project (TIP) under the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), as well as JATMA and USTMA.

We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of TRWP and 6PPD through our proprietary technological development.

Through our AI framework 'HAICoLab,' we balance high-level grip performance (safety) with excellent wear resistance (environmental performance). We are designing products that reduce particle emissions by more accurately predicting how tires wear over time.

Partnering with industry organizations, we are advancing the evaluation of alternatives for 6PPD and other antiozonants, as well as their transformation products, which secure tire life and safety. Placing top priority on product safety and quality, we strive to establish material technologies with lower environmental impact.