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Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. is pleased to announce that it participated, for the first time as a tire manufacturer, in the Hevea Research Platform in Partnership (HRPP),*1 an international research platform aimed at promoting the sustainable production and use of natural rubber, as an associate member on October 8, 2024. We will take this opportunity to further accelerate our initiatives towards sustainable natural rubber procurement. 

Through industry-government-university collaboration, the HRPP addresses research topics related to natural rubber, such as the impact assessment of climate change, labor availability, improvement of production technology, and quality improvement.

On October 8, 2024, we joined associate members of the platform as the first tire manufacturer and first private company outside of Thailand. We will begin a joint project under the HRPP from 2025. By starting this new partnership with the HRPP, we will increase natural rubber productivity and further accelerate our initiatives towards sustainable natural rubber procurement.

 In line with the Sustainable Natural Rubber Policy,^*2 we actively make collaborative efforts with the stakeholders in the supply chain and aim for sustainable natural rubber procurement. We also strive to achieve a 100% sustainable material content ratio^*3 for all products in tires, sports, and industrial products by 2050. We carry out various activities, such as participating in PROJECT TREE, ^*4 an initiative for improving the transparency of the natural rubber supply chain, in March 2024, and launching joint research with Khon Kaen University in Thailand to investigate the mechanism that leads to the improvement of latex yield.^*5

■About the HRPP

Name	Hevea Research Platform in Partnership
Establishment	2008
Profile	・Established by Kasetsart University (Thailand), Prince of Songkla University (Thailand), Department of Agriculture of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (DOA), and French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD).  ・Through industry-government-university collaboration, it conducts activities for the promotion of research on natural rubber, academic training and capacity building, and the enhancement of partnership.

We unveiled our own unique Circular Economy Concept for the Tire Industry, which we call TOWANOWA*6, in March 2023. TOWANOWA features a two-ring structure, with a “Sustainable Ring” consisting of five processes in the value chain and a “Data Ring” linking big data collected from each process. We aim to provide new value by sharing / using data between the two rings. By using data obtained from this joint research in the Material Development & Procurement process of TOWANOWA, we aim to achieve the procurement of more productive natural rubber and strive to improve the sustainability of natural rubber. Through TOWANOWA, the Sumitomo Rubber Group will further accelerate our efforts to promote and practice ESG Management and contribute to the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050 and the development of a sustainable society.