Polestar sells electric cars that are built for it at Volvo Cars, Geely and Renault plants; it owns no factories. Most of its revenue comes from car sales, with some from selling carbon credits.
More about Polestar
Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC was incorporated in England and Wales in 2021 and has its head office in Gothenburg, Sweden; its roots go back to 2017, when Volvo Cars and Geely set Polestar up as a brand. It had an average of 1,548 staff and US$3.06 billion revenue in 2025.
Founded 2021Head office Gothenburg, SwedenStaff ~1,548 (2025 average monthly headcount)Revenue ~US$3.06B (2025)Website ↗
Polestar's footprint was 1,906,464 tCO2e in 2025, about 99% of it in its value chain, and it rose 24.3% as car sales grew, though emissions per car fell 7.3%. The plants that build its cars report 98.5% renewable electricity, mostly through certificates, but only 36% of its parts suppliers ran fully on fossil-free electricity against a target of all of them by 2025. Its targets are self-set and per car: halve emissions per car by 2030 and net zero by 2040, with no SBTi commitment. It publishes a life cycle assessment for every model and reports its misses openly. In 2025 it joined a CO2 pool that lets carmakers with high-emission fleets cut their EU penalties.
Polestar scores 39/100 (Below expectations) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Companies can never pay for anything about their own score. Last verified November 2026.
That places Polestar joint 443rd of 969 companies scored, and 3rd of 32 in Automotive.
What is Polestar doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Controversies & Red Flags (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Targets & Commitments (0/10, 3/10).
Where Polestar lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- Emissions from its own operations8/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain7/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
- Whether its emissions are falling0/10No evidence its emissions are falling, not even from energy bills or mileage.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature4/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water5/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets3/10No specific targets with dates.
- How openly it reports7/10No annual impact report, or no pay linked to climate targets.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.
How is Polestar's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Polestar's score based on?
10 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
30% of them were published by Polestar itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“has undergone limited assurance in accordance with ISAE 3000 (revised) by our statutory auditors”
“Polestar believes in the importance of transparency around our goals, current performance, and ongoing challenges.”
“Polestar conducts its business as one operating segment”
“value chain increased by 24.3% in 2025 to around 1.9 million tonnes”
“Another pool is forming around Germany's Mercedes, with Polestar, Volvo Cars, and Smart, the same document showed.”
“The German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is also endeavouring to form a pool with Smart, Volvo Cars and Polestar, the document continues.”
“A group of 150 executives from the e-mobility sector has urged the European Commission and President Ursula von der Leyen to uphold the 2035 target”
“To achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, our absolute emissions must start to decrease by the second half of this decade.”
“pushing the goal from 2030 to 2035 to reflect the scale of the technical work involved”
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How does Polestar compare with other automotive companies?
Where Polestar sits among automotive peers.
Among the 32 major automotive brands we've scored, Polestar sits 3rd of 32.
Who scores higher in Automotive?
The 2 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Polestar.
Bentley operates a carbon-neutral UK factory with 100% renewable electricity, but hides absolute emissions figures across its supply chain and use-phase operations—the dominant impact category for a luxury car maker.
See the breakdown →Motability Operations' footprint was 9.42 MtCO2e in its 2025 year, almost all of it from the cars it leases and sells, including 2.07 Mt from the leased fleet on the road, and 13.5% above 2021.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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