Car-makers must “tear up” plans: Polestar

ELECTRIC car brand Polestar’s head of sustainability, Fredrika Klarén, has called on OEMs to “tear up” their existing plans to combat climate change, because, she says, they are already lagging behind.

At a recent media roundtable in Sydney, Ms Klarén spoke with equal parts urgency and exasperation of the challenge facing the automotive industry in light of current climate change modelling, which predicts the world has just seven years before the global average temperature rises by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

She said that while many major automotive brands have plans in place to ease their impact on the climate, significantly more can be done, and should be done.

“We’ve said that we need to be climate neutral by 2040, as a company, and we need to halve emissions by 2030,” said Ms Klarén.

“That’s not what we can do, that’s what the climate scientists are telling us that we need to do as companies.”

Polestar has stated that as a brand it “is determined to improve the society we live in, using design and tech to accelerate the change to sustainable, electric mobility”, and that as part of that plan, the EV brand will create a climate neutral car by 2030, one that “that leaves the factory gates with a zero carbon footprint.”

Ms Klarén also warned there is more to this discussion than just selling electric cars. 

Polestar offers customers a full life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the carbon footprint of the car, from the sourcing of minerals and metals to the point that you put the car keys in your pocket, so those with the best intentions are able to hold the brand accountable.

She said that EVs are not the answer – rather, they are part of the answer.

“It’s so dangerous for the industry – if it only keeps talking about electric vehicles as being the saviour, we’re going to come into new Dieselgates,” she said.

“All companies need to have that strategy to enable (humanity) to combat climate change in time.

“That’s our predicament here – that we know this, that there is no place for (internal combustion engine – ICE) cars on a large scale after 2030 in that scenario – it just cannot be calculated to work,” she said.

The question was raised about Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda, who recently reiterated his doubts about the speed shifting towards electric vehicles (EV).

“Just like the fully autonomous cars that we are all supposed to be driving by now, EVs are just going to take longer to become mainstream than the media would like us to believe.”

Ms Klarén said that she understands there is a lot at play, and that many of these major corporations have had their production plans and future development forecasts in play for years.

“OEMs are locked into their business plans. They’ve planned for a transition. I understand that – but the thing is that the time plan is wrong, it’s not in line with climate scientists,” she said.

Toyota, for example, has stated that by 2030 it plans to have 50 per cent of all vehicles sold being battery-electric models, and to have a carbon-neutral line-up by 2040. 

“What we need to do is tear up those business plans and make new ones,” said Ms Klarén. 

“To me, you’re still putting gasoline in the car – so don’t focus on that technology at all. If you keep focusing, if you keep having that in your business plan, you’re not going to be able to level up in a way that you need to do in terms of this new technology.”

Ms Klarén empathised with those at the top of some of the world’s biggest automotive organisations, but called on those decision-makers to be even more assertive in their approach towards climate neutrality.

“Leaders are having to walk a very difficult walk. Unfortunately, there are so many interests in this. So leaders have to be really, really bold now, now more than ever – that is what is needed for this to happen,” she said.