Assessment of biodiversity risks : Nokian Tyres raw material suppliers
Parkkali, Juuso (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023061323737
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023061323737
Tiivistelmä
Biodiversity related issues have become more important in recent years. Halting biodiversity decline has become one of the top priority goals globally for all sec-tors of society since it possesses significant risks for global business and human existence. Loss of biodiversity is directly linked to climate change. For companies, the work to tackle biodiversity loss starts with assessing the current state of biodiversity across the company’s value chain. The objective of this thesis was to determine suitable biodiversity indicators for Nokian Tyres (NT), and to assess their raw material suppliers’ biodiversity risks, dependencies and impacts. Geographical biodiversity hotspots for NT suppliers were determined, as well.
The assessment process included research on biodiversity assessment tools and guidelines. The guideline chosen for this thesis was Science-based Targets for Nature: Initial Guidance for Business (2020). The biodiversity assessment was made using World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) Biodiversity Risk Filter (BRF), which is aligned with the Science-based Targets for Nature guidance. Initial supplier data from NT database was input to the BRF, which assigned scores for various biodiversity indicators for the raw material suppliers based on their location, business sector and business importance.
The results of the assessment suggest that the suppliers that need most attention are in Southeast Asia and West Africa. The NT suppliers located in these regions are mostly from the natural rubber industry. The results suggest that natural rubber cultivation has the highest biodiversity risk potential compared to other tyre material production processes. Looking at the overall picture, the big-gest biodiversity impacts in NT raw material chain came from pollution, deforestation and land-use change. The assessment results in this thesis are approximations by the BRF. The suppliers with most severe biodiversity risk must be researched further. Appropriate actions to tackle negative biodiversity impacts need to be assessed for the priority locations.
The assessment process included research on biodiversity assessment tools and guidelines. The guideline chosen for this thesis was Science-based Targets for Nature: Initial Guidance for Business (2020). The biodiversity assessment was made using World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) Biodiversity Risk Filter (BRF), which is aligned with the Science-based Targets for Nature guidance. Initial supplier data from NT database was input to the BRF, which assigned scores for various biodiversity indicators for the raw material suppliers based on their location, business sector and business importance.
The results of the assessment suggest that the suppliers that need most attention are in Southeast Asia and West Africa. The NT suppliers located in these regions are mostly from the natural rubber industry. The results suggest that natural rubber cultivation has the highest biodiversity risk potential compared to other tyre material production processes. Looking at the overall picture, the big-gest biodiversity impacts in NT raw material chain came from pollution, deforestation and land-use change. The assessment results in this thesis are approximations by the BRF. The suppliers with most severe biodiversity risk must be researched further. Appropriate actions to tackle negative biodiversity impacts need to be assessed for the priority locations.