On any given day in Singapore, millions of journeys unfold across the island’s tightly woven road network – from school runs in Tampines to late-night taxi rides through Orchard Road. Few drivers think about their tyres beyond safety and durability. Yet, beneath the surface, one of the most fundamental parts of a vehicle is undergoing a quiet transformation.
Singapore’s push towards greener transport – including stricter emissions standards, electric vehicle (EV) adoption targets, and efficiency labelling – reflects a broader global trend. The International Energy Agency estimates that transport accounts for roughly 23 per cent of global energy-related CO2 emissions, making it one of the largest contributors to climate change.
“In Singapore, environmental regulations and customer expectations are moving in the same direction: greater efficiency, transparency, and accountability,” said Dr Pang Chong Hau, chief sustainability officer at Giti Tire Group.
For tyre manufacturers, that convergence is reshaping how products are designed from the outset. At Giti, a Singapore-headquartered tyre company, engineers are focusing on reducing rolling resistance – a key factor in how much energy a vehicle uses – to improve fuel efficiency and extend the range of electric vehicles.
Research shows that improving vehicle efficiency, including components like tyres, can cut fuel use significantly and is among the most cost-effective ways to reduce transport emissions.
The company is also incorporating more certified sustainable and recycled inputs into its products, while building traceability into its supply chains. In 2025, it developed a prototype tyre made with 93 per cent sustainable materials, with a broader target of reaching 30 per cent sustainable content by 2030.
Engineering trade-offs under pressure
For drivers, expectations remain unchanged: tyres must perform reliably in all conditions, particularly in a city like Singapore where sudden downpours can quickly turn roads hazardous.
“Safety and performance are non-negotiable,” Dr Pang said. “Our responsibility to all drivers starts with braking performance, wet grip, durability, and reliability under all conditions. The introduction of sustainability is not and must not be at the expense of this standard.”
That requirement sits alongside growing pressure to reduce environmental impact, creating a complex balancing act in tyre design. Improving fuel efficiency, durability and wet grip often involves trade-offs – a challenge engineers sometimes describe as the “magic triangle”.
Rather than accepting those limits, companies are investing in new materials, tread patterns and construction methods to improve multiple aspects simultaneously. This comes as road transport remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels, accounting for the vast majority of energy use in the sector, meaning even incremental efficiency gains can have outsized climate impact.
The shift is not only driven by policy. Across global supply chains, manufacturers and consumers are increasingly demanding clearer sustainability standards.
“Waiting for regulations to be enforced is risky and not in the spirit of being sustainable,” said Dr Pang.
Early investment, he said, allows companies to better understand how alternative materials behave, and to adapt production processes before compliance becomes mandatory.
In Singapore, transport remains a significant source of emissions despite the city-state’s relatively small overall carbon footprint. Image: The Transport Enthusiast DC on Unsplash
This matters in Singapore, where transport remains a significant source of emissions despite the city-state’s relatively small overall carbon footprint, and where policies are increasingly aligned with global decarbonisation pathways.
Tyres sit at the intersection of multiple global pressures, from volatile natural rubber prices to energy costs and logistics disruptions.
“A tyre is a convergence point for many risks: raw material prices, energy costs, logistics, and regulation,” Dr Pang said.
In response, manufacturers are redesigning products to be more durable and material-efficient, while diversifying sourcing to reduce exposure to supply shocks. Lifecycle considerations are also becoming more prominent, including efforts to recover and recycle used tyres through pilot reverse logistics programmes.
This reflects a broader shift in corporate thinking. Climate and supply-chain disruptions are increasingly seen not just as environmental risks, but as core business risks, pushing companies to rethink products at the design stage rather than react later.
One of the biggest challenges remains cost. Recycled and bio-based materials can behave differently from conventional inputs, requiring additional testing to ensure consistent performance at scale.
At the same time, companies are under pressure to keep products affordable, particularly in markets like Singapore where the cost of car ownership is already among the highest globally.
“While recycled and bio-based inputs have been in development for a while now, they still often behave differently from virgin materials, especially at scale,” said Dr Pang. “Maintaining uniformity across millions of tyres while preserving grip, wear resistance, and structural integrity required extensive reformulation, simulation, and physical testing. In short, the challenge lies in both innovation and industrialisation.”
Giti has framed its approach around maintaining competitiveness while reducing environmental impact, including partnerships aimed at lowering production costs over time.
What drivers may – and may not – notice
For most drivers, the changes underway will be subtle, according to Dr Pang.
He noted, instead, improvements may show up over time through longer tyre life, better energy efficiency and more transparent information about environmental impact.
“At the early stages of the tyre’s lifecycle, tyre design will become increasingly efficient with the adoption of advance simulation technologies, while tire materials will become more environmentally-friendly and regulation-ready,” he said.
But it reflects a deeper change in how companies are responding to a more constrained and uncertain world, where sustainability is no longer a separate agenda, but part of how products are built to last.
“As global constraints tighten, the tyres that succeed will be those engineered to do more with less – less energy, less material, and less environmental impact – without asking drivers to accept lower safety or performance,” he added.
