Polestar is taking on a new challenge : to create a climate-neutral car by 2030.

The project is called the Polestar 0 project and aims to reduce emissions throughout the supply chain and production.

It was revealed in Polestar’s first annual review, vowing to eliminate all emissions throughout the supply chain and production of the car. Until there are offsetting solutions with proven results, this approach must be viewed as a last resort.

Instead, focus will be placed on reducing the emissions that can be mitigated, either directly or indirectly. This means that all parts of Polestar’s supply chain are to reach the targets without resorting to offsetting by tree planting or other schemes relying on the CO2 intake of crops.

Ultimately, the aim is a car that will leave factory gates with a zero-carbon footprint.

Polestar 0 will be characterized by a circular design, including circular batteries, recycled materials, and renewable energy across the supply chain.

A new journey

A crucial first step on this journey is full transparency, without which all other efforts are invalid. Accordingly, from now a product sustainability declaration will be published for all Polestar models (and future models), starting with disclosing the carbon footprint, and also traced materials, on the company website and in Polestar spaces.

More parameters, such as recycled/renewable materials, will be incorporated in the product labelling over time. Other steps include running environmentally responsible car factories in China, powered by 100% renewable electricity.

“As an electric car maker, we don’t have to worry about combustion engines producing toxic emissions, but that doesn’t mean our job is done. For the first time we can dare to dream about a future with climate-neutral, circular but still beautiful, cars, and the human right of air that is cleaner to breathe,” commented Polestar’s Head of Sustainability, Fredrika Klarén.

*Recent research has revealed that relying on the current trend of offsetting by planting trees is not sustainable in the long run. It would mean using too much land, and the long-term carbon-storage capacity of forests and soils is not well known. Offsetting by planting trees also risks contributing to monocultures and loss of biodiversity. Additionally, there can be no guarantee that a forest won’t later be logged, devastated by a forest fire, or altered by climate change.