1. Top 10 News Stories to Watch in 2025 - Sustainable Development

In 2025, the global rubber tire industry will steadily move forward amidst transformation. In the field of sustainable development, companies are using technological innovation and cross-industry cooperation as engines to implement low-carbon transformation across the entire chain, from raw materials and production to recycling.

The following are the top ten most watched sustainable development projects selected by the European Rubber Journal (ERJ):

■ ERJ released the "Top 10 Global Elastomers for Sustainable Development" list, focusing on multiple innovative achievements covering multiple technologies, directions, and fields.

ERJ: Top 10 Global Elastomer Sustainability Ranking

■ Bridgestone, together with Eneos Materials and JGC Holdings, is accelerating the development of its bio-based tire project, with plans to roll out a prototype tire in 2028 and achieve commercialization by 2030.

■ French company Carbios has reached an agreement with Indorama Ventures to supply enzymatically recycled PET monomers for the production of polyester fibers, which will ultimately be used in Michelin tire cord fabrics, contributing to the achievement of circular economy goals.

■ Michelin is investing 60 million euros to build the world's first industrial-grade 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) plant in France to explore its application in tire cord adhesives. The project is expected to be put into operation in 2026 with an annual production capacity of 3,000 tons.

■ Hankook Tire and Solvay have collaborated to develop recycled silica, using industrial waste as raw material, to address industry pain points such as the shortage and high cost of rice husk-based silica. The project is currently in the sample testing phase and is planned for mass production in 2030.

■ India’s Epsilon Carbon has launched a new sustainable carbon black series, Terrablack, which includes two products for tire tread and sidewall, and can reduce carbon footprint by 40%-50%. At the same time, it plans to build a tire recycling plant with an annual processing capacity of 30,000 tons, which is expected to be put into operation in 2026.

■ Continental is ramping up its sustainability efforts by using synthetic rubber produced from recycled tires and waste cooking oil in its tires. It has also become the first tire manufacturer to use Lanxess ISCC+ certified sustainable rubber additive TMQ, aiming to increase the proportion of sustainable materials in its tires to 40% within five years.

■ Orion's recycled carbon black, developed based on waste tire pyrolysis oil, has been recognized by the EU's "Innovation Radar" and has entered the commercialization stage. The company is expanding its production capacity and promoting a number of sustainable innovation technologies.

■ Michelin, in collaboration with IFPEN and Axens, has achieved a breakthrough in the BioButterfly project, verifying the industrial feasibility of producing bio-based butadiene from bioethanol (including second-generation ethanol). The product can be used to synthesize materials such as styrene-butadiene rubber. The demonstration plant test went smoothly, and technical certification will be promoted in mid-2026 to lay the foundation for commercialization.

■ Bridgestone has partnered with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of Japan to develop a room-temperature tire chemical recycling process. This process breaks through the bottleneck of vulcanized rubber decomposition technology by decomposing vulcanized rubber in two steps, and can produce chemical raw materials such as isoprene.

2. Top 10 News Stories to Watch in 2025 - Regulations and Trade

In terms of regulations and trade, major market policies have been updated intensively, and environmental protection, trade and competition regulations have become new benchmarks for industry compliance, with these two dimensions jointly outlining a new blueprint for industry development.

The following are the top ten most noteworthy news stories on regulatory trade, as selected by the European Rubber Journal (ERJ):

■ Due to the harmful effects of 6PPD and its derivative 6PPD-quinone released from tire wear on aquatic life, the EU plans to restrict its use in tires. The final assessment report is expected to be submitted in August 2026.

■ The Council and Parliament of the European Union reached a provisional agreement on the revision of the EUDR, extending the applicable date of the regulations to the end of 2026 and adding an additional buffer mechanism for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

■ my country has extended its anti-dumping investigation into imports of halogenated butyl rubber from Canada and Japan until March 14, 2026. Previously, it had terminated its investigation into related products from India and determined some tariff rates.

■ The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has released an updated proposal for restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), adding eight new industries to be assessed, including sealing, printing, and military applications, and proposing alternatives that are not completely banned, provided that the risks are manageable.

■ Michelin wins part of its case in the EU antitrust case: The General Court of the European Union ruled that the European Commission's investigation into Michelin before January 16, 2019, lacked sufficient evidence and the relevant verification decisions were overturned, but rejected Michelin's request to overturn all verification decisions.

■ In response to the upcoming Euro 7 tire wear particulate emission limits, Michelin calls on the EU to adopt industry-proven field road testing methods and warns of the risks of opaque parameters, large discrepancies in results, and susceptibility to manipulation in current laboratory testing.

■ The European Commission has officially launched an anti-subsidy investigation into new pneumatic tires (load index ≤ 121) for passenger cars and trucks in my country. The investigation will last for 13 months and will run concurrently with the existing anti-dumping investigation. Ultimately, it may impose anti-subsidy duties or even retroactive tariffs.

■ Six of the world's largest tire manufacturers, namely Nokian, Continental, Pirelli, Goodyear, Michelin, and Bridgestone, won a class-action lawsuit in the United States over price fixing, with the court dismissing the allegations of price manipulation.

■ Pirelli's board of directors voted to terminate control of MPI, a subsidiary of Sinochem, in order to comply with U.S. regulatory requirements, protect management autonomy, and maintain the position of its high-end tire and smart tire business in the U.S. market.

■ The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) of South Africa has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties for six months on pneumatic tires for passenger cars and commercial vehicles from Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. It has preliminarily determined that Chinese tire companies are circumventing existing anti-dumping duties by transiting through the above three countries, resulting in damage to the domestic industry of the Southern African Customs Union.

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