Hankook Tire & Know-how (hereafter Hankook Tire) introduced that its Daejeon Plant has obtained the Worldwide Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS, a worldwide certification system for sustainable supplies.
ISCC PLUS is a voluntary worldwide certification system that verifies the sustainability of bio-based and recycled supplies, in addition to provide chain transparency. This certification marks Hankook Tire’s third ISCC PLUS achievement. The corporate beforehand obtained certification for its Geumsan Plant in 2021, which was the primary within the tire business, and its Rácalmás Plant in Hungary in 2023. The milestone underscores the corporate’s continued ESG administration efforts to increase manufacturing techniques for merchandise based mostly on sustainable supplies throughout its key international manufacturing hubs.
On the Daejeon Plant, Hankook Tire changed fossil-based artificial rubber with bio-circular polymers, considerably lowering the environmental footprint all through the whole lifecycle, from uncooked materials sourcing to product manufacturing, in contrast with standard fossil-based supplies. By this achievement, the plant has met the stringent certification standards of ISCC PLUS.
Specifically, the high-performance rally tires Ventus and Dynapro, developed with as much as 31 % sustainable supplies, together with these licensed below ISCC PLUS, shall be provided completely because the official rally tires for the 2025 season of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), one of many world’s premier motorsports competitions sponsored by Hankook Tire. This demonstrates Hankook Tire’s top-tier motorsports expertise on the worldwide stage.
With the certification of the Daejeon Plant, Hankook Tire has established a sustainable product manufacturing system spanning unique gear and substitute tires in addition to motorsports, reinforcing its management in international ESG initiatives. Since final yr, the corporate has been supplying the iON evo, a high-performance tire that includes the business’s first ISCC PLUS certification emblem was printed on the sidewall, as an unique gear tire for the Porsche Taycan. Regardless of incorporating 45 % recyclable and recycled supplies based mostly on the mass steadiness strategy, the iON evo delivers efficiency that matches or exceeds standard fossil-based merchandise, assembly Porsche’s stringent efficiency and sustainability requirements.
In June of the identical yr, Hankook Tire additionally launched the brand new iON GT within the European substitute market, rising the share of ISCC PLUS-certified supplies to as much as 77 % based mostly on the mass steadiness strategy. As the primary electrical automobile–devoted tire to realize “Triple A” rankings below the EU Tire Label for masking rolling resistance, moist grip, and noise, the iON GT has demonstrated world-class efficiency requirements.
Throughout IAA Mobility 2025, the world-renowned automotive exhibition held in Munich, Germany, in September this yr, Hankook Tire unveiled an idea product growth case that includes 81 % sustainable supplies. This demonstration strengthened iON’s market place as an revolutionary model pioneering the long run mobility ecosystem.
As well as, Hankook Tire serves because the unique racing tire provider for the ABB FIA Method E World Championship, the world’s premier electrical automobile racing sequence. By its contributions to local weather motion and round worth chain growth, the corporate earned the FIA’s ‘3-Star Environmental Accreditation’ final yr. Constructing on this collaboration with the FIA, Hankook Tire is introducing the next-generation electrical racing tire iON Race this yr, which includes 35 % sustainable supplies and represents one other step ahead in advancing sustainable motorsports.
Hankook Tire is actively pursuing open innovation with international companions to additional advance sustainable materials substitution applied sciences. This yr, the corporate has been selling technical collaborations with ROTOBOOST to develop turquoise hydrogen-based carbon black and with Solvay to develop round silica. Moreover, Hankook Tire is actively taking part in government-funded nationwide analysis initiatives and home consortia to validate carbon-reduction applied sciences and increase the industrial viability of different supplies.
Transferring ahead, Hankook Tire will proceed advancing technological innovation based mostly on its round economic system technique, E.Circle. The corporate goals to scale back reliance on fossil-based assets, stop pure useful resource depletion, and steadily decrease carbon emissions, contributing to better sustainability throughout the tire business.
