How Polestar Slashed EV Carbon Footprints by 25%

Swedish EV brand Polestar is going through some significant growth, with its Q1 2025 sales up 76% from last year. 

However, business growth can come with environmental footprint growth – something the company wants to avoid. 

EVs produce zero tailpipe emissions and, even when accounting for emissions from electricity generation, emit significantly less CO₂ per mile than conventional cars. 

It’s not all sunshine and roses though – manufacturing EVs, and their batteries in particular, is an energy intensive process and mining for raw materials can destroy habitats. 

Polestar is working to reduce the impact of creating its vehicles and has achieved a 25% reduction in the carbon emissions of every EV it sold. 

“Global climate goals can’t be reached without a switch to electric vehicles, and I’ll even take it even further – electrification isn’t enough,” says Michael Lohscheller, CEO at Polestar, in the report. 

“That is why we’ve set a progressive roadmap to decouple our growth from climate impact. Basically, we cut emissions as we accelerate sales.

“The two objectives are compatible. It is not easy, and the path won’t always be linear, but this year I am proud to say that we have reduced our relative carbon footprint by 25% since our base year 2020.”

The sustainability impact of Polestar’s vehicles

The flagship Polestar 2 had its first life cycle assessment in 2020 which led to the launch of the Polestar 0 project. 

This project aims to find long-term solutions to sustainability challenges in creating EVs. 

The total emissions of each Polestar 2 Long Range Dual Motor is 23.1 tCO₂e, a reduction from 26.1 tCO₂e in 2020. 

Polestar’s sustainability report also shows that the Polestar 4 will have its lowest vehicle carbon footprint yet at just 21.3 tCO₂e.

Fredrika Klarén, Head of Sustainability at Polestar, says: “I feel proud of the way Polestar has persevered in the face of adversity and geopolitical uncertainty. 

“Our commitment to sustainability and sense of what truly matters to us has never been clearer than after this year.

“We have been able to take important steps forward that drive true impact, for example, seeing our car with the lowest carbon footprint in our lineup, Polestar 4, hit the market, ready to replace fossil fuel cars.”

A sneak peek at the Polestar 5 and Polestar 7

Polestar 5, the company says, “marks the debut of a completely new platform”. 

The car’s entire chassis is constructed from bonded aluminium. 

This material is traditionally reserved for limited-edition performance cars, offering lighter and longer range vehicles that consume less energy.

To reduce the aluminium’s carbon footprint, Polestar continues to focus on increasing the use of low-carbon aluminium from smelters using hydroelectric power and recycled aluminium. 

For the EV’s interior, Polestar has worked with Bcomp to create a version of ampliTex material with its own signature weave. 

The material has a lower carbon footprint compared to traditional polymer-only materials and requires less virgin plastic than conventional materials. 

Polestar 7 will be the company’s first compact SUV, putting the company into the fastest-growing market segment. 

The vehicle is planned to be manufactured exclusively in Europe. 

The report says: “Over time, from Polestar 7 onwards, we will gradually move from a multi-platform approach to one single architecture, reducing complexity, costs and investments.”

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