Polestar reduces ‘relative’ CO2 emissions by 8pc

POLESTAR is endeavouring to reduce its carbon footprint through all facets of car making and recently reported that it had successfully reduced ‘relative’ CO2 emissions in 2022 by eight per cent compared to 2021.

The Sweden-based manufacturer, part of the Chinese-owned Geely group, has an ambitious goal of halving its car making emissions by 2030 and say they will do this by increased traceability on risk materials and with new partners engaged in their business activities focused on what the company calls Polestar 0 (zero).

The information was contained in Polestar’s recently published third Annual Sustainability Report, which outlined initiatives and performance on environmental, social and governance matters pertaining to the company in 2022.

Digging deeper into the report, we find that the specialist EV-maker can confirm it has reduced relative CO2 emissions per car sold by eight per cent compared to 2021 levels despite attaining record 80 per cent global volume growth since 2021, translating into a total of 51,500 cars in 2022.

Balanced against this are ‘absolute’ emissions that have increased as a result of the scale-up, but as the report says, relative emissions on a per-unit-basis have reduced by 13 per cent since 2020.

It is seen as a good result for Polestar which sells strongly on a ‘green’ platform to buyers concerned about climate change issues.

This is the second consecutive year the company has been able to successfully combine rapid growth with carbon cuts.

The trajectory makes Polestar’s ambition of halving relative emissions by 2030 look more achievable.

The company says the reductions come down to several factors including reduced average transports and high sales in markets with more renewable energy to their grids.

Added to this are ongoing updates pushed through by Polestar’s sustainability team within its car programs.

This can be exemplified by a change of supplier providing aluminium for the wheels and battery trays for Polestar 2, where a change to a hydro-powered smelter resulted in a 1.2 tonne reduction per car.

The company says other contributing factors are the Polestar 2 factory that now runs on 100 per cent renewable electricity as well as a diversified product portfolio with a larger share of single motor vehicles which have a lower energy demand during production.

Head of Sustainability at Polestar, Fredrika Klarén, says: “We wear our emissions on our sleeve – measuring and scrutinising every detail ensures we keep our eye on the ball”.

“Electrification alone is not enough and pure EV-makers like Polestar have a lot of work ahead of us. Our focus remains unchanged as we double down on cutting emissions in our supply chain.”

On the issue of tracing ‘risk’ materials, Polestar says it understands making EVs (and all motor vehicles for that matter) also comes with a social footprint.

The company uses blockchain to trace risk materials back to the mine, mitigating social and environmental risks in complex supply chains.

Material traceability is now increased to include cobalt, mica, lithium, nickel as well as leather and wool.

Polestar says its goal to create a truly climate-neutral car by 2030, has been joined by over 20 leading players from various industries, all focused on finding solutions to eliminate CO2 and re-think processes, instead of relying on misleading offsetting schemes.

Last year, Polestar teamed up with Circle Economy and STENA Recycling to measure the company’s impact and set a circularity baseline, from which work will be done to improve raw material consumption, biodiversity and recyclability.