Polestar is making the world’s first carbon-neutral car, here’s how the fashion industry is helping

“As a designer, we have the skill to make things desirable,” says Polestar’s head of design Maximilian Missoni as we sit in the Opera House in Copenhagen chatting. “We train our whole career to make people want things. And what I've learned in this journey is that we have to be responsible. We need to make the right things desirable.” While he makes cars for a living, the sentiment is something that can be applied across all industries - especially when it comes to the fight against climate change. An impeccably-crafted carbon-neutral pair of jeans can change consumer behaviour for the better, just like a high-performance electric car.

To Missoni’s left is his colleague Fredrika Klarén, the head of sustainability at Polestar, and a few hours earlier she stood on stage at the Global Fashion Summit, of all places, and told the audience “We want to make the world’s first carbon-neutral car, but we don’t know how.” It was a humbling moment to witness – a brand setting a goal and admitting they weren’t entirely sure how to get there. It was also a clear sign that the road to true sustainability is built with collaboration and people who actually care to change the world.

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For the unacquainted, Sweden company Polestar makes electric cars. When it comes to climate solutions, research has shown that electric cars are better for the environment due to emitting fewer greenhouse gases and air pollutants than their fossil-fuel counterparts. Simply put; once an electric vehicle leaves the factory it doesn’t pollute when on the road. However, the issue with electric cars, which makes Polestar’s mission tricky, is that the emissions created during the production of an electric vehicle tend to be higher than a conventional car. This is mainly due to the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries.

“With an electric car it’s nearly an obligation [to get the production emissions to net zero],” says Missoni. “It's like, hey, you got the second phase clean, so now let's clean up the first part.”

So how can fashion help clean up the automotive industry? What is the fashion world doing right? Klarén is quick to say transparency. She talks of fashion companies being the first to make public their supply chains, allowing investors to really scrutinise what is going on, leading to positive change. “That type of radical transparency was the starting point of all of this amazing impact and innovation going on,” she says, before adding she would love to see the automotive industry do the same.

From a design perspective, Missoni is interested in the new production methods of the fashion world, like 3D knitting. “We could follow all the typical paradigms that you are used to from luxury cars so that people really get it… fill it with chrome and leather and glossy wood,” he says. But the other and better route “is looking around and asking: where is the sustainable stuff? Where's the modern stuff?”

If we turn the tables, the fashion world can also take from the automatic sustainability toolbox a sense of cross-company collective to push the industry forwards. “Innovation and technology are on the top of the agenda,” explains Klarén. “Car brands are also able to gather around the same impactful solutions. They are bridging over competitive situations.”

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But both acknowledge it’s this need for circularity, to make things that can live on forever (case in point: a car battery should last decades before it can then be recycled), that has to exist in all companies, industries and even homes if we really want to make a change. “Circularity is a building block to get to zero. I mean, without circularity, it's impossible, right?,” adds Missoni.

With the climate crisis looming over their agenda every day, how does it make them feel? Klarén puts it best; “I have a sense of urgency all the time.” However for her this urgency isn’t an impediment, its a drive that we can all harness, regardless of what our 9-5 looks like.

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