Most companies aim high,
talking about a brighter future,
big goals and ambitious dreams.
At Polestar, we do too.
But if we only focus on the future,
we fail to paint the whole picture.
To be a transparent company, as we aim to be,
is not a goal in the traditional sense.
It is the choice of examining the sustainability challenges of today
and deliberately presenting them to the world as they are.
Not altered, not angled.
As the market for electric vehicles grows,
so does the demand on our planet.
When increasing the production volume,
we require more of the materials used in our batteries.
The current means of extraction
and refining of these materials
are associated with pollution,
operations in areas of high corruption,
forced labor and child labor.
To safeguard people and the planet,
we must change this,
and transparency is one of the most effective ways to do it.
We need to work closely with our entire supply chain,
tracing all high-risk materials used in our vehicles,
especially those used for battery production.
Blockchain technology is a powerful tool for this,
as it lets us trace the materials with greater certainty.
With this technology,
we put ourselves in a position of control,
seeing where our materials come from.
Data is recorded for every transaction throughout the supply chain,
from raw-material extraction and processing,
to transportation and assembly.
Since the mining of these materials is associated with all those risks,
it is so important that we can trace them throughout the whole chain
from the mines to the car assembly.
But that is only the first step.
We are developing different ways to take action.
There's a palette of solutions that we can and should use
in the automotive industry.
Solutions that promote human rights,
resource efficiency,
and environmental protection.
It's really up to no one else but us to change,
and it all starts with being transparent.