Tesla’s first impact report puts hard number on CO2 emissions

Bloomberg

Tesla Inc. released its first-ever environmental impact report, joining the 80 percent of S&P 500 companies who produce glossy-looking and sunny testaments to their own corporate sustainability record. There are pictures of smiling employees, solar panels in green fields, and data on the electric automaker’s performance on some environment and
social metrics.
The company put a total on its worldwide carbon dioxide output in a single year: 282,000 metric tons of CO2 released, directly and indirectly, across its facilities, energy operations, network of car chargers, and sales and delivery services in 2017. This data establishes a baseline, allowing investors and other observers to detect a trend in future reports.
Tesla’s self-reported emissions from its facilities—146,000 metric tons of CO2—compares favourably to conventional automakers. Ford Motor Co. said its worldwide facility CO2 emissions is 4.4 million
metric tons.
Of course, Tesla sells fewer vehicles and has the distinction among major automakers of producing none with internal combustion engines—and the sustainability report focused on this.
Tesla said it has sold more than 550,000 electric vehicles, for example, with more than 10 billion miles driven. That works out to saving over 4 million metric tons of CO2 compared to conventional driving.
The report had hard numbers on energy—Tesla said its solar generation of
13.25 terrawatt hours far exceeds the energy consumption of its fleet of cars on the road, at 5.26 terrawatt hours—but provided fewer specifics about worker safety at its auto factory in Fremont, California or the efficiency of its battery gigafactory in Nevada.