A 25% emission cut per sold car in Polestar sustainability report

Major greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, updates on the Polestar 0 project and a continued quest for increased transparency and more sustainable materials feature in Polestar’s fourth annual sustainability report.

Since the company started measuring in 2020, Polestar has reduced its carbon footprint per sold car by nearly a quarter (24.7%).

It says main contributing factors include increased low-carbon aluminium in all models, improvements in battery manufacturing, 100% renewable electricity in the manufacture of all models and more efficient logistics combined with increased use of biofuels on certain ocean routes.

“Polestar has shown that it is possible to decouple growth from climate impact,” says its chief executive Michael Lohscheller.

”In simple terms, we aim to continue to cut emissions as we accelerate sales,” he says.

“Even though much in the world seems to be going in the wrong direction, we are doubling down on our commitments.”

The Polestar 0 project launched in 2021 to create a climate neutral car supports Polestar’s goal of becoming climate neutral by 2040.

Project partners and Polestar say important low carbon solutions have been identified, showing the potential to produce a Polestar 2 with a 10 tonnes lower carbon footprint than when the project started.

The cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of the 2020 launch edition Polestar 2 Long range Dual motor variant would go from about 26 tonnes to 16 tonnes of CO2e by fully incorporating the solutions identified within the partnerships, says Polestar.

The largest contributions are within aluminium and steel manufacturing, key materials for decarbonisation as they represent around 45% of the total cradle-to gate carbon footprint of Polestar 2, it says.

The Polestar 0 project structure will shift, with areas that require further research serving as input to the Mission 0 House, a Polestar-initiated but collaboratively driven and funded research centre in Gothenburg which hosts scientists from academia and engineers from industry working toward elimination of GHG emissions in materials, products and processes, says Polestar.

Click here for the full report.