Some people think that one of the key ways to deal with the climate crisis is to offset carbon by planting trees, but for companies seeking the ultimate environment, this is just a way to divert attention. They are more willing to break out of the traditional net zero smokescreen and come up with real and responsible ideas for a sustainable future.

Such ideas are sometimes even bold, such as Polestar's “Polestar Zero Carbon Program”, a Swedish electric vehicle company dedicated to making climate-neutral, recyclable cars.

The plan was proposed by Polestar when it released its first annual sustainability review in 2021, and its goal of deepening carbon reduction changes throughout the vehicle life cycle cannot be described as unambitious.

However, it is undeniable that compared to carbon offsetting by simple addition and subtraction, the practice of accurately dissecting one's entire industry chain using “climate friendliness” is much more complicated and difficult.

“A car company may involve many stakeholders, such as car builders, policy makers, and local government and terminal users, so we really need collaboration and coordination to further change this field.” Recently, Polestar Global Sustainability Officer Fredrika Klaren (Fredrika Klaren) also confessed in response to questions from Wall Street.

The “2023 Polestar Sustainability Report” released by Polestar in mid-late April may show a climate report card three years after the implementation of the “Polestar 0 Plan”.

Fredrika Klaren (Fredrika Klaren), Polestar Global Sustainability Officer

Numbers and goals

According to the “Report”, every Polestar car sold in 2023 reduced greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 9%. Compared with 2022, this is equivalent to a reduction of 3.4 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per Polestar car sold.

It is worth mentioning that this is another development against the backdrop of a high base of growth in carbon reduction performance in the previous year. According to reports, Polestar delivered a total of about 51,500 vehicles in 2022, an increase of 80% over 2021, yet the relative carbon dioxide emissions of each car were reduced by 8% compared to 2021, and by 13% compared to 2020 in terms of intensity.

The “Polestar 0 Plan” aims to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions from all aspects of the supply chain and production to the production of a truly climate-neutral car by 2030, which is only a phased point in Polestar's grand climate agenda.

“We currently identify three important climate-related goals. The 2030 goal is only one step, and there are 2040-related goals next. We believe that if we want to achieve the goals in 2040, we must consider the needs of the entire industry, which means we need to achieve some achievements in 2030. For example, the climate-neutral cars we have built are scalable, and can be expanded from a single vehicle to other stakeholders in the entire industry to use our solutions, and finally promote their climate neutrality process.” Frederica Claren told Wall Street News that “relevant parties” include partners in the supply chain or internal manufacturing plants.

Frederica Claren told Wall Street News that the “Polestar 0 Plan” is very important to help Polestar achieve its goals. “On the one hand, we want the entire company to enhance innovation in this field, and on the other hand, we hope to promote cooperation with some key partners.”

Wall Street News learned that Polestar has now established contacts with 30 key partners, including from the steel industry, plastics industry, etc., to carry out research on carbon reduction issues in related industries.

In addition to collaborating with upstream, Polestar also hopes to help downstream end consumers make more climate-friendly purchasing decisions from a climate perspective, such as providing users with carbon footprint data with different configurations to guide greener products.

“We hope to manage ESG data in the same way as managing financial data, not only to help the company better identify strategies and initiatives internally, but also to open it up to our users. For example, users are struggling between buying electric vehicles and buying traditional fuel vehicles. We can compare the data to see the impact of different models on the environment. If you choose to buy an electric vehicle, you can go to the charging station to generate electricity using solar panels to power the charging station accordingly, so that users can intuitively see how they choose to contribute to reducing their carbon footprint even more.” Frederica Claren further explained the Wall Street story.

Three paths

Polestar's reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is mainly due to three aspects: the use of carefully selected materials that have less impact on the climate, the use of renewable energy in car and battery production, and the improvement of energy efficiency during vehicle use.

This coincides with the findings of Song Xiaocong, an engineer working on life cycle impact assessments and carbon accounting at the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences. Song Xiaocong believes that the raw material acquisition and operation stage is a key part of reducing pollution and carbon emissions for pure electric vehicles. The respiratory system effects and climate change effects during the raw material acquisition and operation phase all contribute more than 90% of the total environmental impact categories. Through weight and efficiency of power systems, energy consumption can be reduced, air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced, and the goal of reducing pollution and carbon emissions for pure electric vehicles can be achieved.

The carbon footprint distribution characteristics of pure electric vehicles are also similar to environmental impacts. The total carbon emissions during the raw material acquisition and operation phase account for 96% of the total carbon emissions of pure electric vehicles before recycling, and the carbon emission intensity of a pure electric vehicle running 150,000 kilometers is 0.17 kg/km (measured in CO2). Lightweight power system production and optimization of the power structure are the keys to reducing carbon during the raw material acquisition and operation and use stages, respectively.

Song Xiaocong's calculations also found that currently, by optimizing the power structure and improving the energy efficiency of power systems, pure electric vehicles can achieve carbon reduction potential of 17.64% and 12.51%, respectively, and recycling valuable metals from waste batteries can achieve carbon emission reduction potential of about 2%.

In terms of optimizing the power structure, Polestar's plan last year required the supply chain to use 100% renewable green energy by 2025. According to information released on procurement, about half of the suppliers made corresponding promises last year, and this figure is constantly being updated.

“By 2025, all first-level suppliers will need to use renewable energy or renewable electricity in the production process, which means that when the Polestar 5 product is put into production, the electricity used throughout the production process will be renewable.” Frederica Claren revealed that most existing suppliers have achieved the same vision or goals.

According to the first LCA life cycle assessment report released by Polestar 4 last year, Polestar 4 produced only 19.4 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) when it went offline. It is currently the model with the lowest overall carbon footprint among Polestar's models. It was put into operation at the Hangzhou Bay factory. The factory has achieved carbon neutralization of electricity through the model of purchasing an international green certificate I-REC and building a photovoltaic power plant on the roof of the factory.

In terms of the green dimension of raw material procurement, many components of Polestar 4 use low-carbon aluminum from hydropower smelters. According to the LCA report, its single-motor standard battery life version produced 19.4 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the single-motor long-life version was 19.9 tons, and the dual-motor long-life version was 21.4 tons. Among them, aluminum accounts for 23-24% of the carbon footprint, steel accounts for 20%, and battery modules account for the highest proportion of the carbon footprint of material production and refining, reaching 36-40%.

Last year, Polaris also focused on strengthening traceability tracking from raw materials to finished products, and expanding the number of materials that track battery risk. The ability to track lithium and nickel used in Polestar 3 batteries is an advance. Additionally, cobalt and mica elements began to be tracked using blockchain technology in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Interestingly, Polestar internally chose the term “Lagom” to outline the unique values of this Scandinavian car company. The first term Lagom comes from the Vikings. The root word is “Laget om” (Laget om). Back then, rafting boats often shared a foot cup, requiring everyone to refrain from drinking alcohol and distribute it evenly.

Contemporary Lagom represents an attitude of moderation, unassertiveness, and living in the present, and in combination with the original meaning, Lagom clearly includes a sustainable mindset. Sustainability is about exploring how to live in harmony with modern society and the environment based on the Lagom spirit.

This kind of value really gives Polestar a unique style among car companies. For example, Guan Qingyou, director of the Financial Research Institute, believes that from a European perspective, the automobile values of sustainable development have been formed. Polestar is an electric vehicle manufacturer jointly owned by Volvo and Geely. As a brand with Chinese genes, it is of great significance in leading China's sustainable development, and may even influence the sustainable process of the Chinese automobile industry.