Volvo Cars sustainability score: 37/100
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Volvo Cars designs, makes and sells cars; Europe made up 47%, China 21% and the US 17% of its retail sales in 2025. Volvo Car AB (publ) was incorporated in Sweden in 2010 and is based in Gothenburg; its roots go back to 1927.
More about Volvo Cars
Geely Sweden Holdings AB holds 78.65 per cent of its shares and capital. It employed an average of 42,650 people in 2025 and had revenue of SEK 357.3 billion.
Founded 2010Head office Gothenburg, SwedenStaff ~42,650 average (2025)Revenue ~SEK 357.3B revenue (2025)Website ↗
Volvo Cars' footprint was 34,679,000 t CO2 in 2025, down 8% on 2024, and its report says the fall reflects lower car volumes as well as material and use-phase cuts. Renewable sources supplied 76% of the energy in its own operations; 19% of its renewable electricity came from unbundled certificates. Its targets are SBTi-validated, but its use-phase target is per vehicle-km. In September 2024 it dropped its 2030 fully electric pledge for a 90-100% target that includes plug-in hybrids. LobbyMap documents it seeking to keep US emissions credits, and it remains in the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and FCAI. No upheld fines were found.
Volvo Cars scores 37/100 (Below expectations) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Nobody can pay to change a score, speed it up or hide it. Last verified November 2026.
That places Volvo Cars joint 507th of 1,023 companies scored, and joint 5th of 36 in Automotive.
What is Volvo Cars doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain (9/10, 8/10). Weakest on Controversies & Red Flags and Nature & Biodiversity Impact (1/10, 5/10).
Where Volvo Cars lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
What would raise this score
- Its record on controversiesDeal with the findings under question 10, in public.
- Its effect on natureMeasure its effect on nature and have it independently verified.
- Whether its emissions are fallingShow a consistent fall over several years across its operations and supply chain.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations9/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain8/10Its Scope 3 emissions aren't fully verified or falling year on year.
- Whether its emissions are falling6/10No consistent fall over several years across its operations and supply chain.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature5/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste6/10No verified figures for reuse and recycling across the business.
- Its effect on water6/10No water stewardship programme or verified fall in water use.
- Its climate targets6/10No validated long-term net zero target.
- How openly it reports8/10No mission-locked structure, such as B Corp certification.
- Its record on controversies1/10Points deducted for controversies or its business model. The finding is under question 10.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.
How is Volvo Cars's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Volvo Cars's score changed?
Volvo Cars's score has been reviewed 2 times and currently stands where it started, at 37.
- 37 → 376 November 2026
Re-scored on v2.5 (brand batch: car makers); owner rulings 2026-11-06
- Scored 374 April 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Volvo Cars's score based on?
14 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
21% of them were published by Volvo Cars itself; the rest come from independent sources.
11 of 14 sources are independent of the company.
“cutting our Scope 1 and 2 emissions in half compared to 2024.”
“Volvo continues to be the industry leader on steel and aluminum decarbonization”
“Volvo Cars stands out for the progress it has made on decarbonising its steel and aluminium supply chains”
“The share of electrified cars reached 46 per cent, the highest among legacy premium peers.”
“Volvo Cars has abandoned its ambitious target to sell only electric cars by 2030 amid a global slowdown in growth for battery-powered vehicles.”
“Going forward, Volvo Cars aims for 90 to 100 per cent of its global sales volume by 2030 to consist of electrified cars”
“Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars scrapped its target of going fully electric by 2030 on Wednesday”
“Unfortunately, Volvo has not publicly released the full, detailed results of its biodiversity”
“ambitions and current work on nature and biodiversity throughout its value chain”
“Volvo e Mercedes hanno investito significativamente nella decarbonizzazione di acciaio e alluminio”
“water use remains a significant challenge, especially given the scale and complexity of operations at the Torslanda facility in Gothenburg”
“advocating to maintain flexibilities like off-cycle and air conditioning credits that would reduce the policy”
“invoquant des différences entre sa stratégie zéro émission et celle du lobby automobile européen”
“Leigh Day is bringing over 15,000 claims for compensation action against the car manufacturer Volvo over polluting emissions”
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How does Volvo Cars compare with other automotive companies?
Where Volvo Cars sits among automotive peers.
Among the 36 major automotive brands we've scored, Volvo Cars is tied =5th of 36, with 1 other.
Who scores higher in Automotive?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Volvo Cars.
Ferrari's footprint was 966,413 tCO2e in 2025, down from 1,033,118 tCO2e in 2024, but emissions from its cars in use rose 10%, on official test figures that real-world data suggest understate fuel use. 48% of its energy came from renewable sources, and its purchased renewable electricity is 99.8% backed by guarantees of origin.
See the breakdown →Motability Operations' footprint was 9.42 MtCO2e in its 2025 year, almost all of it from the cars it leases and sells, including 2.07 Mt from the leased fleet on the road, and 13.5% above 2021.
See the breakdown →Polestar's footprint was 1,906,464 tCO2e in 2025, about 99% of it in its value chain, and it rose 24.3% as car sales grew, though emissions per car fell 7.3%.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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