Environment
Environmental management

At the Bridgestone Group, the Total Environmental Advanced Management System (TEAMS) serves as the foundation for the Group's environmental activities. In acquiring and maintaining ISO 14001 certifications at the manufacturing sites, the Group has implemented Environmental Management System (EMS) framework across the Group. TEAMS was developed by adding the following two concepts to EMS:

Total: the participation of all business units, facility functions and employees throughout the Group
Advanced: the commitment to active disclosure and advanced, world-class activities

Under the TEAMS concept, each strategic business unit (SBU) and facility in the Group prepares and adopts an EMS using methodologies employed by ISO 14001. Environmental activities are then improved through the use of the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle at three levels: individual facilities, SBUs, and globally.

To support TEAMS activities, the Group is also working to provide and consolidate shared global information systems, for use in improvements through the Group’s PDCA cycle by analyzing each SBUs’ environmental activities and data. It is reinforcing various infrastructure and human resource development to ensure environmental management at SBUs and business locations.

For example, all non-production sites including distribution centers and retail shops conduct environmental self-assessments, grading each location’s environmental management with one of three levels (I, II, or III), which are used for further improvement using the PDCA cycle.

Also, the Group holds conferences for environmental managers to enhance environmental education and cooperation across the entire Group. The trainings include on-site lectures and group discussions aimed at enhancing the capabilities of environmental managers and strengthening regional cooperation.

The TEAMS serves to enhance the environmental audit system of the Group’s manufacturing facilities by regularly conducting system audits (mainly organizational audits), and performance audits (mainly performance data audits). The Group also conducts internal audits based on ISO 14001 standard and undergoes external audits, as well as regularly training of internal environmental auditors.

The Group requires all manufacturing locations with 50 employees or more to acquire ISO 14001: 2015 environmental management certification. Achieving this certification shows that operations are continuously working to minimize their impacts and comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations. At the end of 2022, 113 manufacturing locations (100%) were ISO 14001 certified.

Bridgestone’s ratio of sites with ISO 140001 certification is verified by SOCOTEC Certification Japan, a third-party institution promoting transparency of information.

Independent Assurance Report (2.2MB)

For details of ISO 50001, please see CO₂ reduction across our operations.

The Group has an organization structure with three meeting bodies: Global Sustainability Committee, Global Environment Working Group (WG) and strategic business units (SBUs), coordinating and cooperating to enhance TEAMS activities in line with the mid-term plan. The Global Environment WG and Global Sustainability Committee are supervised by the Global Executive Committee (G-EXCO) to develop global environment strategies and policies for the entire Group. Once strategies and policies are approved, the SBUs implement them through their EMS.

The Group established the Global Environment WG, which consists of members representing the environmental departments from each region, to strengthen coordination of global and regional environmental activities.

Global management structure (as of June 2023)

The Group has adopted a proprietary factory production qualification system based on ISO 14001 standard to rapidly identify and minimize environmental risks at new factories and production lines.

It is a four-stage system for checking and certifying the environmental management systems at new factories: make an environmental plan, perform preliminary environmental review when building new factory or production lines, prepare environmental policies, ensure legal compliance, and conduct environmental training programs.

Each manufacturing facility in the Group carries out environmental activities based on ISO 14001 standard and using the PDCA cycle under the leadership of top management. The Group also works to reduce the environmental footprint of the entire facility by reducing and controlling environmental pollutant emissions into the water and air, by designing processes to minimize waste generation and properly managing the wastes that are generated, by securing the necessary number of personnel tasked with reducing these environmental risks, and by properly managing the relevant facilities. As one of the measures, the Group establishes Global Environmental Standards which state minimum requirements for facilities to minimize environmental impacts.

In addition, the Group prepared an emergency response procedure based on ISO 14001 standard and conducts scheduled drills to verify its effectiveness. It reviews this procedure to make sure that plant production can be stopped and restarted without causing environmental problems in the event of disasters such as a major earthquake.

The Group established a Global Environmental Standard for EMS which stipulates the minimum EMS elements that should be followed to achieve the intended outcome. The Group will apply this standard to all Bridgestone Group sites that have not obtained ISO 14001 certification.

For the details of the Group's efforts to minimize environmental footprint, see:  “Minimizing footprint.”

Working together with suppliers, the Group developed the Global Sustainable Procurement Policy to promote environmentally responsible business throughout the supply chain.

The Group is monitoring and rating the environmental and social performance and governance (ESG) of the suppliers using third-party assessments as a tool to encourage suppliers to enhance their ESG commitment. The ESG issues, which is assessed and linked to the Sustainable Procurement Policy, include environmental aspects such as energy consumption, water, biodiversity, pollution, and waste. The Group holds sustainable procurement seminars and provides on-site support based on the assessment results and are working together with suppliers in their environmental activities.

Bridgestone is an engaged member of the Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity to promote environmental conservation. As a member of the working group consisting of various businesses, the Company is involved in researching effective ways to implement business-led policy measures to conserve biodiversity by reducing impacts of the supply chain and to visualize environmental impacts.

For more information on the Group’s commitment to sustainable supply chain procurement, see “Procurement.”

The Group requires all its raw materials and component suppliers to comply with their national and regional regulations on the use of hazardous substances and materials. The Group also requires suppliers to eliminate the use of chemical products from the early stages if any hazardous substances are suspected in such products.

Prior to purchasing major components from suppliers, the Group conducts an environmental management review of suppliers based on its outsourcing authorization system. In this review, the Group examines the suppliers’ overall environmental management and programs. In addition to checking suppliers’ management systems for chemical products, the Group also checks their systems for managing air, water, noise, vibration, odor and industrial waste. If any item requiring improvement is identified, it notifies the supplier of the issue and ask them to make the needed improvements. Additionally, prior to purchasing new production equipment, the Group requests suppliers to include in the quotation information on the use of any hazardous substances in the equipment.

Read more on the Group's Global Sustainable Procurement Policy