How Apollo Tyres is Driving Sustainable Procurement

Founded in 1972, Apollo Tyres operates from its corporate headquarters in Gurgaon, India, specialising in tyre manufacturing and sales. The company has experienced substantial growth since its establishment, expanding its operations internationally.

Apollo Tyres maintains a global manufacturing network with seven state-of-the-art production facilities across Asia and Europe, serving customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Through its primary brands – Apollo and Vredestein – the company delivers an extensive range of products including tyres for passenger cars, light trucks, truck-buses, off-highway vehicles and two-wheelers, along with retreading materials and retreaded tyres.

Leading the charge towards carbon neutrality

Apollo Tyres serves as a shining example of sustainable procurement, with its aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 top of mind. 

Apollo's Sustainable Procurement Vision focuses on minimising environmental and social impacts through responsible sourcing practices. The company has set a target to use 40% sustainable raw materials (renewable and recycled) by 2030.

The approach treats suppliers as long-term partners and emphasises ethical conduct and fair competition. Apollo works members of its supply chain to improve material quality and reliability while reducing environmental and social risks.

Key guiding principles include: promoting transparency and accountability; increasing use of recycled and renewable materials; maintaining high environmental, health and safety standards; integrating human rights standards; ensuring decent work conditions aligned with the company's 'One Family' culture; improving natural rubber sustainability through GPSNR guidelines; and driving continuous improvement across the raw material supply chain.

Pioneering 75% sustainable material tyres

Apollo has developed tyres with 75% sustainable materials – aligned with its sustainability roadmap of increasing the usage of sustainable raw material to 40% by 2030.

Concept agriculture tyres containing 75% sustainable materials have nine featured compounding ingredients in different components of the tyres. This includes recycled rubber, sustainable carbon black from end-of-life tyres, bio-based oil, recycled nylon and the bead wire processed with higher recycled content.

The concept tyres have been made using sustainable natural rubber, sourced from suppliers which have made public commitments to sourcing and/or traceable to plantation, in accordance with the company's sustainable natural rubber policy.

Speaking on the concept tyres, P K Mohamed, Chief Advisor, R&D at Apollo Tyres, says: "This is a big milestone in the sustainability journey of Apollo Tyres.

"Being the early movers in this space, especially in India, and with investments in R&D and manufacturing towards achieving the 40% sustainable material target by 2030, we have been able to develop this tyre with 75% sustainable materials, which is now being tested extensively before being commercialised."

Bringing the supply chain together for change

Apollo hosted its Sustainable Procurement Summit and Awards 2025, bringing together more than 800 supplier representatives from around 20 countries across five continents. The event served as a global platform to accelerate progress towards a responsible, circular and climate-conscious value chain.

The summit opened with insights outlining Apollo Tyres' Sustainability Roadmap 2030, the company's long-term commitment to embedding sustainability across business operations. Speakers highlighted Apollo Tyres' vision for sustainable procurement and reinforced clear expectations from supply chain partners as the organisation advances towards its 2030 goals.

Following this, a panel discussion focused on how emerging regulations and evolving customer expectations are reshaping corporate sustainability strategies for the next decade. Panellists shared perspectives on navigating upcoming policy shifts, strengthening transparency and accelerating collaborative innovation across global supply chains.

Apollo Tyres also celebrated and recognised outstanding contributions from its supply chain partners. Awards were presented for exemplary work in the areas of environmental stewardship, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement – honouring partners who have demonstrated leadership, commitment and measurable impact. Award winners were Birla Carbon, Cabot, EQ Rubber, Hyosung, Milliken, OCCL, Performance Additives, Solvay, Synthos, Teck Bee Hang and Xingda.

Sunam Sarkar, President and Chief Business Officer at Apollo Tyres, adds: "The Sustainable Procurement Summit and Awards 2025 reflect our belief that creating a resilient and responsible value chain requires collaboration, transparency and a shared purpose. We are proud to recognise partners who are advancing sustainability in meaningful ways."