Strategy & Sustainability
We build and implement the business case for the green transition.
Polar Associates is a strategy consultancy that advises investors, industrial companies, and the public sector in navigating the energy and materials transition.
Get in touch →What We Do
Focus areas
The green transition creates enormous commercial opportunity, and enormous risk. Most strategy firms lack the domain depth to tell the two apart. We exist to close that gap.
Our Approach
Top-tier rigor, boutique agility
Polar Associates was founded by three partners with deep roots in top-tier management consulting and sustainability strategy, advising some of Europe’s largest organizations on industrial transformation and the green transition.
We started this firm because the climate transition demands a different kind of advisory. One that pairs rigorous strategic analysis with real technical depth, and that moves at the pace the challenge requires.
The Team
Founded by practitioners
We come from McKinsey & Company and Material Economics and have dedicated our professional careers to advising ambitious companies on creating and protecting value within the green transition. Our focus areas include waste and circularity, sustainable packaging, critical materials and resource extraction, bio- and e-fuels, and the future of transport.
Mark Conrad
Mark leads Polar Associates’ private capital practice and the firm’s work across the green carbon economy. Previously an Expert Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company where he co-led the waste and sustainable plastics service lines with engagements across sustainable plastics and packaging, waste and circularity, net-zero strategy, and sustainable investing throughout Europe, APAC, and the Americas. Mark’s background includes six years at Material Economics as well as 4 years as an economic expert at RBB Economics. MSc in Applied Economic Analysis, Stockholm School of Economics; BSc in Economics and Mathematics, University of Southern California.
Erik Gedda
Erik leads Polar Associates’ work with the public sector. He is currently directing the firm’s advisory work with the North of Sweden region and has driven green business scaling engagements across energy and materials. Prior to co-founding Polar, Erik spent several years at Material Economics and, following the firm’s acquisition by McKinsey in 2021, served as Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. In that role, he led decarbonization engagements with major European cities and contributed to flagship research on circularity and a waste-free Europe. MSc in Industrial Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology.
Niklas Gullstrom
Niklas heads Polar Associates’ work on green materials and transport. He is currently directing the Vinnova-funded project on scaling lignin-based plastics in partnership with Lignin Industries and Voi Technologies, and spearheaded the firm’s research on the external costs of transport. Prior to co-founding Polar, Niklas was part of the core team at Material Economics, the leading industrial decarbonization strategy firm acquired by McKinsey & Company in 2021. There, he led analyses of Europe’s waste and carbon flows, and managed a two-year decarbonization and circularity transformation program for a major tier-1 automotive supplier. MSc in Industrial Engineering and BSc in Biotechnology, Linköping University.
Case Studies
Representative engagements
We work across the green transition, from early-stage commercial diligence to industrial transformation to publicly funded research. A selection of recent and representative engagements.
Careers
Build something that matters
Polar Associates is growing. Applications for our September 2026 positions have closed. Thank you to everyone who applied. For future opportunities, please reach out.
Get in touch at recruitment@polarassociates.se
Contact
Let’s talk
Every conversation starts with understanding your challenge.