Hankook Adds Jiaxing Plant to ISCC PLUS Network

Hankook Tire & Technology has added its Jiaxing plant in China to its ISCC PLUS-certified production network, extending the company’s traceable sustainable materials programme across Asia and Europe. The certification makes Jiaxing the fourth Hankook manufacturing site to secure the standard, following Geumsan, Rácalmás and Daejeon.

Wider certification coverage

The latest certification builds on Hankook’s earlier ISCC PLUS progress. Its Geumsan plant in South Korea became the first tyre manufacturing facility to receive the certification in 2021, before the company added Rácalmás in Hungary in 2023 and Daejeon in South Korea in 2025.

For tyre manufacturers, the value of the standard lies less in the certificate itself and more in the audit trail behind it. ISCC PLUS is a voluntary system used to verify alternative feedstocks and chain-of-custody methods, including mass balance, physical segregation and controlled blending. Each site handling certified alternative materials must hold its own valid certificate.

Hankook said the Jiaxing accreditation supports its move towards sustainable manufacturing capability and greater supply-chain transparency. The company has linked ISCC PLUS certification to the use of bio-based polymers, natural oils, recycled materials and circular raw-material streams in tyre production.

Why Jiaxing matters

The Chinese plant gives Hankook a wider certified base in one of the world’s most important tyre production regions. That matters for original equipment customers, replacement tyre distributors and fleet buyers seeking clearer evidence behind sustainability claims.

The certification also gives Hankook more flexibility as manufacturers face pressure to show how sustainable materials are sourced, allocated and verified. In practice, this is increasingly important where tyres contain bio-circular or recycled inputs but must still meet safety, wear, efficiency and performance standards.

Tyre News has previously covered Hankook’s wider materials programme, including the company’s Daejeon ISCC PLUS certification and bio-circular polymer work, as well as its Rotoboost partnership targeting lower-carbon carbon materials. Those developments point to a broader shift from isolated sustainable concept tyres towards certified production systems.

From claims to production systems

Hankook’s Daejeon certification was tied to the replacement of fossil-based synthetic rubber with bio-circular polymers. The company also linked that site to official FIA World Rally Championship tyres developed with up to 31% sustainable materials.

The company has also used ISCC PLUS-related material claims in its electric vehicle tyre portfolio. Tyre News previously reported that Hankook’s ESG report highlighted EV-only tyres containing 77% ISCC PLUS-certified materials, alongside industrial-scale production of carbon black made from waste-tyre pyrolysis oil.

The Jiaxing certification therefore adds capacity to an existing direction of travel. It signals that sustainable tyre production is moving beyond product launches and into plant-level systems, where material flows, sourcing records and finished-product claims can be checked.

Competitive pressure on tyre sustainability

Hankook is not alone in pursuing higher sustainable material content and stronger verification. Tyre News recently reported on Linglong’s 85% sustainable materials concept tyre, while Continental has outlined plans to raise the share of renewable and recycled materials in tyre production.

For the trade, the key issue is whether certified materials can scale without compromising performance, availability or cost. Plant-level certification helps answer part of that question, but customers will still look for measurable evidence in production tyres, original equipment fitments and replacement ranges.

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Tagged with: Hankook Tire, ISCC PLUS certification, Jiaxing plant, sustainable tyres, bio-based polymers, circular raw materials, mass balance, tyre manufacturing, recycled materials, supply chain transparency, EV tyres, tyre sustainability

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