Batteries Subject to Carbon Footprint Disclosure
The European Commission recently came up with new rules so that secondary batteries can become environmentally friendlier by the use of low-carbon processes and recycled materials.
According to the rules, every battery to be sold in Europe, including electric vehicle batteries, industrial batteries and portable ones, is subject to carbon footprint disclosure starting from 2024. In addition, recycled materials must account for a certain portion of main battery materials so that damage to the environment and human rights infringement attributable to metal mining can be minimized. Specifically, the minimum ratio will be 12 percent for cobalt, 4 percent for lithium and 4 percent for nickel starting from January 2030 and those are scheduled to be adjusted to 20 percent, 10 percent and 12 percent in January 2035.
According to the European Union, the lithium and cobalt demands related to electric vehicle batteries are predicted to increase 18-fold and five-fold from this year to 2030 and 60-fold and 15-fold until 2050, respectively. It is planning to collect more waste batteries for material recycling purposes. The current rate of collection is 45 percent or so and it will be raised to 65 percent by 2025 and 70 percent by 2030.
South Korean battery manufacturers, in the meantime, are continuing to make preparations to meet the European environmental regulations. For instance, SK Innovation is working on techniques to collect lithium hydroxide from waste electric vehicle batteries. The development is expected to be completed within this year. In addition, SK Innovation and other SK Group subsidiaries recently joined the RE100 global campaign to reduce the use of fossil fuel-based electricity to zero by 2050.
LG Chem released its sustainable growth strategy in July this year to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The entire LG Group is now a member of RE100 and it is currently working on techniques to collect waste batteries and predict remaining service lives. Its R&D goals also include waste battery-based energy storage systems for use in electric vehicle charging stations.