Rubber

A row has erupted between NGOs and the rubber industry following lobbying by the EU tyre and rubber industry association to the European Commission, pressing for natural rubber to be excluded from forthcoming new EU due diligence regulations designed to stamp out deforestation, ecosystem loss and human rights abuses in key global commodity supply chains.  

Companies like Vietnamese rubber and agribusiness giant HAGL Agrico quietly took to destroying lands and forests in Cambodia belonging to Indigenous communities, disrupting ecosystems, and desecrating sacred places in order to use the land for unsustainable mono-cropped industrial agriculture. 

Two of the world’s most famous recreational parks – Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London – could be razed and transformed into huge new industrial rubber plantations under a proposed $1billion ‘Green bond’ application submitted today by environmental campaign group Mighty Earth.

On June 10, 2021, Mighty Earth, Equitable Cambodia, and Inclusive Development International sent an open letter to Peugeot, a global automobile brand. Despite new leadership and a strong commitment to sustainability, Peugeot has repeatedly refused to publicly condemn land grabbing and environmental damage perpetuated and caused by a subsidiary of their business partner, Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO).

Rubber agroforestry has multiple benefits for smallholder farmers, biodiversity, and the environment.

A bond tied to widespread, deliberate, and undisclosed industrial deforestation should not be labeled "sustainable."

Watch the Swedwatch, Source International, and Mighty Earth webinar on the environmental and human rights impacts of natural rubber processing.

Natural rubber production has been a driver of tropical deforestation, which is a major accelerant of climate change.

Indigenous people in Muoy and Inn villages in Ratanakiri were recently heartbroken to find that rubber agribusiness HAGL had partially cleared the sacred Patu Mountain

The world's largest rubber company has taken vital and encouraging steps but has a long journey ahead to make its operations in Cameroon and worldwide fully sustainable.

The European Parliament has adopted a legislative initiative report urging the European Commission to propose a strong law to ensure products sold in the Union are deforestation-free and don’t cause human rights abuses.

Unsustainable natural rubber is increasingly becoming a reputational risk for consumer-facing brands

World's largest tire company seeking millions from investors to restore forest that its own business partner destroyed.

Agroforestry is a step closer to a sustainable transformation in the natural rubber sector.

Strong measures will improve industry’s sustainability and accountability with successful implementation

As members prepare to vote on several key resolutions at the annual General Assembly of the Global Platform on Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), Mighty Earth has urged car companies to reaffirm their commitments to a sustainable rubber industry.

Proposal for an EU-funded vehicle renewal scheme would likely increase car ownership and could pose serious public health risks

New investigation documents serious ongoing issues at the planet’s largest rubber plantation

We believe all these things and more are achievable in 2020, and will continue to try to stretch the possibilities for transforming the natural rubber industry this year.

French President Emmanuel Macron has named Mighty Earth's Etelle Higonnet a Chevalier of France’s Ordre national du Mérite

Mighty Earth and our allies hosted a workshop in Thailand which brought together 100 rubber farmers, traders, processors, NGOs, government representatives, and consumer brands that use rubber—like Goodyear tires and Converse shoes—to discuss one thing: sustainable natural rubber.

Nobody doing business with Cargill and JBS can credibly say they are concerned about deforestation

Join us for a multi-stakeholder dialogue near some of the most interesting sustainable rubber farming innovation in Hat Yai, Thailand.

Mighty Earth decided to investigate the supply chain of the world’s biggest rubber supplier, Halcyon -- which controls 12 percent of the planet’s rubber. Positive change from this company could be key to transforming the broader industry.

Rubber is everywhere around us: in the tires on your car or bike, in your shoes, in sporting goods, and much more. But did you know the rubber in your everyday products is likely causing massive environmental devastation?

Mighty Earth joins Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber as Founding Member.

As the World Rubber Summit kicks off in Singapore, we explain why Mighty Earth has become a Founding Member of the new Global Platform on Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR).

Today, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Tire Industry Project (TIP) launch its long-awaited Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) – but sustainability advocates claim it prohibits key stakeholders like non-governmental and civil society organizations or small scale farmers from having a seat at the table.

One week before the launch of a new Global Platform on Sustainable Natural Rubber hatched by tire companies and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), two big players, Continental and Yokohama, have released their own sustainable rubber purchasing policies

Rubber harvesting is causing devastation on a massive scale. And as one of the largest tire brands in the world, Michelin should be leading the charge to drive greener practices in the industry. But where the rubber hits the road, Michelin is falling short.

By the shores of Lake Geneva, a modern office building houses a little-known organization that could play a huge part in the fate of the world’s tropical forests.  

On the heels of Goodyear Tire’s announcement of a natural rubber procurement policy that experts are concerned is not strong enough to hold suppliers accountable, Mighty Earth unveils the Tire Monster — a ten-foot tall, 500-pound sculpture made of discarded tires.

With the recent release of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s new Natural Rubber Procurement Policy, experts express concern that this policy may not be strong enough to hold the world’s third-largest tire company’s current suppliers accountable.

Coming soon to America, there will be a tire monster roaming the streets, and he’s livid about deforestation for rubber.

Bridgestone Tires, the world’s largest tire and rubber company commits to protecting rainforests that are critical habitat for wildlife like gibbons, orangutans, tigers, and elephants, as well as addressing labor and human rights abuses.

Global tire giant Pirelli, a major user of natural rubber, has released a sustainable rubber policy that promises to protect people and forests by banning deforestation, land grabbing, and labor abuse.  

Scientists estimate that a forest the size of Indiana will be cut down to plant rubber trees over the next eight years. Michelin, the world’s largest buyer of natural rubber, says the deforestation has to stop and it’s pledging to go green.