Publications
Publications
- November 2022 (Revised June 2023)
- HBS Case Collection
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change
By: George Serafeim, Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau
Abstract
In 2016, Swedish entrepreneurs Carl-Erik Lagercrantz and Peter Carlsson founded an electric battery company called Northvolt with the dual goals of creating a company to address climate change and bringing battery manufacture to Europe. Northvolt, which succeeded in building a "gigafactory" near the arctic circle in Sweden, was soon on track to become one of the largest and most sustainable battery manufacturers in the world. But, building "the world’s greenest battery" to fight climate change was a difficult—and perhaps unrealistic—goal. How much could Northvolt really contribute to the European effort against society’s greatest challenge?
Keywords
Batteries; Climate Change; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Green Technology; Mission and Purpose; Goals and Objectives; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Green Technology Industry; Battery Industry; Sweden; Europe
Citation
Serafeim, George, Debora L. Spar, and Julia Comeau. "Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change." Harvard Business School Case 323-042, November 2022. (Revised June 2023.)