Polestar, the Swedish electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, has set a goal of climate neutrality across its operations by 2040. In 2021, the Polestar 0 project issued a call to action across the automotive industry to gather partners, including Ovako, to work together towards the elimination of all greenhouse gas emissions from every aspect of the supply chain and production.

As the first planned phase of the Polestar 0 project came to an end in 2024, the project part[1]ners and Polestar were proud to announce that, across the combined initiatives, important low carbon solutions had been identified. The joint efforts show potential to produce an equivalent of the current Polestar 2 with a CO₂e footprint that could be 10 tonnes lower than when the car was launched in 2020, where the largest contributions to the total potential are within aluminum and steel material manufacturing.

An interesting spin-off from the Polestar 0 project is that Bulten Group, the specialist in fastening products, is using our steel to manufacture a new generation of low carbon footprint and highly functional fasteners.

In this strategic partnership, our Smedjebacken mill is managing the production flow of steel billets produced from scrap-based steel as a raw material and manufactured using fossil-free electricity. This steel is then converted by a third-party into the premium wire rod that Bulten processes to manufacture its fasteners.

The cold-forged fasteners, named BUFOg, are intended primarily for the automotive industry. Bulten was attracted to use our steel because of our proven track record in sustainability, including our use of a high ratio of post-consumer scrap, efficient processes and fossil-free electricity. The result is that our steel has a carbon footprint 80 percent lower than the global average. This will be crucial in helping Bulten reduce its output of carbon dioxide below its target of 300 kg per tonne in the steels it uses for its products, which the fastener manufacturer regards as a key milestone on the way to carbon neutrality.

Bulten regards the use of scrap-based steel as so important that it has adopted the tagline “BUFOg – Yesterday’s materials are tomorrow’s solutions”.