The upfront energy, material requirements, manufacturing country, and installation location of photovoltaic (PV) panels results in different payback periods for discrete environmental indicators. While individual PV systems may find the pollutants emitted during their manufacturing and installation paid back in a few years, the rapid growth of the PV industry may have resulted in the formation of a temporary pollutant sink. The goal of this study was to determine the moment in which the PV industry could have become a net pollutant avoider, with detailed analysis for 8 impact categories considered. We performed life cycle assessments (LCAs) of the main types of PV panels manufactured and installed from 2000 to 2018, with projections up to 2025, incorporating technology improvements regarding efficiency, energy and material use, and changes in manufacturing and installation locations. Results for the baseline scenario show the PV industry achieved greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions payback between 2012 and 2016 depending on the energy sources displaced (coal and natural gas, respectively). Sensitivity analysis revealed that the effects of varying irradiation, performance ratio, rebound effect and GHG emissions from manufacturing within certain ranges did not dramatically impact the payback time with results minimally changed by only one year. However, all the conservative estimates added into the worst-case scenario delayed the GHG payback time to 2020, showing that combined effects have a large impact.The analysis of other impact categories revealed that the PV industry is not as effective in preventing other damages to the environment as it is in avoiding GHG emissions with payback times for human toxicity, and ionizing radiation not expected to occur in the study period. Hence, more technology improvements are necessary to lower the impact in other environmental categories beyond climate change and make solar PV more sustainable.