Polestar, the maker of sporty and upscale all-electric vehicles, just released its fourth annual sustainability report, and the manufacturer is making huge strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative is part of the Polestar 0 project, an ambitious plan that was launched in 2021 with the goal of building a totally climate-neutral car. With this latest announcement, the company is getting much closer to that target.
How much has Polestar reduced the carbon footprint of its vehicles? Well, over the last four years – since 2020 when the firm started measuring this metric – Polestar has reduced the carbon footprint of every car sold by nearly 25 percent. This is a staggering development, because designing, engineering, validating, manufacturing, transporting, selling, and servicing cars and trucks is by no means clean.
Compared to the prior year, greenhouse gas emissions per vehicle sold were reduced by 1.7 percent in 2024. Additionally, the Polestar 4, a performance-focused coupe-like SUV supposedly has the lowest launch carbon footprint in the automaker’s lineup at as little at 19.4 metric tons.
To achieve this, Polestar uses low-carbon aluminum in all the vehicles it sells, the company has improved its battery manufacturing processes, and their assembly plants have switched to 100 percent renewable electricity. Additionally, Polestar’s logistics have been made more efficient, and for transportation, biofuels are even employed on certain ocean routes.
According to the automaker, the largest contributions to emission reductions are changes made to manufacturing steel and aluminum. Reportedly, creating these materials results in around 45 percent of the total, that is, cradle to grave, carbon footprint of a Polestar 2.
Working Toward A Greener Future
“Polestar has shown that it is possible to decouple growth from climate impact. In simple terms, we aim to continue to cut emissions as we accelerate sales. Even though much in the world seems to be going in the wrong direction, we are doubling down on our commitments. When the world zigs, Polestar zags.”
– Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller
The next steps in the Polestar 0 project include creating a new research center in Gothenburg, Sweden called Mission 0 House. This facility will allow the automaker to collaborate with other groups and to “hosts scientists from academia and engineers from industry, who work side by side, towards elimination of GHG emissions in materials, products and processes. As a key principle, the ambition is to consider commercialization of future potential solutions developed by the Mission 0 House.”
Building carbon-neutral cars is no easy task, not at all. But Polestar is working to make this a reality, no matter how difficult the task may be.
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