"European Commission proposes minimum sustainability thresholds for batteries", 10 December 2020

...Today, the European Commission, which wants to build enough battery manufacturing capacity in Europe to meet the continent's demand, proposed new battery regulation to make products more sustainable. Around 800,000 tons of automotive batteries, 190,000 tons of industrial products and 160,000 tons of consumer energy storage devices enter the European Union each year, the commission reported – and those figures are on an upward trajectory.

“Clean energy is the key to [the] European Green Deal but our increasing reliance on batteries in, for example, transport, should not harm the environment,” said the commission's executive VP for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans. “The new batteries regulation will help reduce the environmental and social impact of all batteries throughout their life cycle. Today's proposal allows the EU to scale up the use and production of batteries in a safe, circular, and healthy way.”

Under current decarbonization plans, the commission expects global demand for batteries to increase 14-fold between 2018 and 2030, rendering such legislation an essential addition to the European Green Deal.

The proposed batteries regulation builds on the EU's battery directive and extends its scope. As envisioned by the commission, the new regulation aims to harmonize battery product requirements and address hazardous substances such as mercury and cadmium. The plan also aims to set rules to minimize the environmental impact of batteries by introducing a carbon footprint declaration from July 2024. Then, from January 2026, batteries would feature a carbon intensity label and, from July 2027, maximum carbon thresholds would be implemented.

Far from railing against more regulation, European lithium-ion battery industry body Recharge welcomed the proposal. “Due diligence and carbon intensity were clearly missing in this comprehensive framework so far, undermining the efforts of European actors,” said Recharge president Patrick de Metz. “A carbon footprint and due diligence measure have the potential to not only prevent under-performing batteries from entering the EU market, but to work, on [a] product-level, on the EU's climate-neutrality and sustainability objectives.”...

The European Commission has also proposed minimum performance standards for cycling stability be imposed from 2026...