Electric vehicle startups Polestar Automative Holding and Rivian Automotive Inc. are known for doggedly tracking their individual corporate emissions, detailing the environmental toll of everything from the lights in their factories to the rubber in their cars’ tires. On Wednesday, the EV rivals paired up with consulting giant Kearney to raise a flag on the industry more broadly: In a new report, they argue that the transition to electric vehicles alone won’t be enough of a solution to meet the emissions threshold laid out in the Paris Agreement…
The report is essentially a math exercise — mashing up the emissions threshold laid out in the Paris treaty to keep global warming at or below 1.5C against a projection of total auto emissions, from the mining of metals to manufacturing to driving to scrapping or recycling. It concludes that EVs are not enough; even battery-powered vehicles juiced exclusively by renewable sources won’t keep the auto industry under its climate targets.