The long-term partners Porsche and Michelin want to support small plantation farmers in Sumatra in Indonesia in extracting rubber. Education and training on cultivation practices, biodiversity and work safety all have the aim of achieving long-term improvements in the living conditions and economic situations of the smallholders.
For Porsche, responsibility begins a long way from the factory gates. We take a holistic approach to sustainability. Our supply chain and the extraction of raw materials are important factors here,” says Barbara Frenkel, Member of the Executive Board for Procurement at Porsche AG. “We take responsibility for our impact on the rubber extraction regions in Indonesia. We want to improve people’s lives through projects conducted in the region. Smallholders form the heart of a sustainable supply chain for natural rubber. That's why we are supporting them to achieve a decent standard of living while adhering to good environmental and social practices.”
Indonesia is one of the world’s most important rubber production regions. The rubber extraction region in the Jambi province is very rural. Porsche and Michelin identified risks to the sustainability of the supply chain in rubber extraction using an app specially developed for this purpose and by conducting discussions with market participants in the region. Rubber is used in a great many industrial products as a raw material. As an automotive manufacturer, Porsche also contributes to global rubber consumption through the use of rubber in tyres as well as in a wide range of vehicle parts.
“CASCADE is an example of Michelin’s commitment to a sustainable natural rubber supply chain that protects the environment and improves livelihoods. We are happy to be working with Porsche on this ambitious project. For almost 20 years, we have enjoyed a close partnership in the tyre business, which we are now also expanding to the area of sustainability,” says Hélène Paul, Senior Vice President, Chief Procurement Officer at Michelin.
CASCADE
CASCADE is one of the first support projects in the world to start at the lowest level of the natural rubber supply chain. The scheme will see 1,000 smallholders trained by local partners to make extraction methods more environmentally compatible and efficient. This makes a considerable contribution to the lasting improvement of living conditions of smallholders and their families. Porsche and Michelin are investing around one million euros in the project, which will initially run until 2024.
