The money from emission credits continues to flow in – even though the company thought the source of income would end.
In 2023, Tesla sold so-called emission rights for the equivalent of SEK 18.7 billion, writes Bloomberg.
This means that the electric car manufacturer has earned a total of nearly SEK 94 billion from other car manufacturers’ climate emissions since the start in 2009.
The money is in practice a pure profit for Tesla.
The company’s CFO Zachary Kirkhorn predicted in an interview in 2020 that these revenues would soon decline – but they haven’t.
– We do not expect that the emission credits will contribute significantly in the future, he said at the time.
Both Europe, China and the US state of California require that the total, average carbon dioxide emissions from a car manufacturer’s fleet must be below a certain level.
Those who do not meet these requirements can buy emission rights from other companies.
Since Tesla only sells electric cars, they collect lots of emission rights which they can then resell.
Bloomberg writes that both Volkswagen, GM, Honda and Jaguar Land Rover have had to buy emission rights in recent years.
