Hankook has updated its sustainable natural rubber policy in alignment with Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) policy framework.
Hankook Makes Continuous Efforts to Make Improvements
Hankook is determined to lead improvements in human rights, environmental protection and management transparency. This aims to help improve smallholders’ living standards, upgrade quality of natural rubber and minimise environmental impact. The company had established a sustainable natural rubber policy in 2018 and is a member of Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), an international membership driven platform set up to define sustainability for natural rubber value chain.
Through the policy, each party of the natural rubber value chain, including producers, processors, traders and manufacturers are obliged not only to comply with the laws and regulations of the countries in which they operate but also to fulfill Hankook’s requirements updated in compliance with the new GSPNR policy across diverse fields such as human rights, environmental protection and management transparency.
Guidelines for human rights include protecting land tenure rights of indigenous people and local communities based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Hankook has emphasised its commitment to restoring natural forests and ecosystems along with endangered species and wildlife as well as to mitigating GHG emissions. Efforts are also being made to enhance transparency of the complex natural rubber value chain, which ranges from producers to end users.
Hankook has plans to increase its material efficiency to identify the most suitable cultivation practices while encouraging smallholders to receive related training. The company also actively supports partners to implement the policy. In addition, Hankook will conduct assessment towards their partners to evaluate their compliance with the policy at least once every two years.
Hankook is continuously working towards promoting a healthy and sustainable global community, taking the topic of sustainability seriously. As a result, starting with its first inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices in 2011, the company has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) World for five consecutive years from 2016 to 2020.
