Towards a stable regulatory frameworks for batteries
The negotiations on the Batteries Regulation proposal drew to an end on December 9th, 2022. EUROBAT, representing the European automotive and industrial battery manufacturers, applauds co-legislators for having agreed on a single piece of legislation regulating the whole life-cycle of batteries in the EU. Automotive and industrial batteries are already the role model for circularity and a level playing field within and outside the EU is key for batteries to continue decarbonising energy systems, mobility, and all the other sectors which rely on batteries to cut emissions.
More work will have to go now to ensure the regulation is implemented correctly, and EUROBAT looks forward to working with policymakers to shape the over 50 pieces of secondary legislation from the proposal.
Rene Schroeder, EUROBAT Executive Director, said: “Batteries are a key piece of technology to achieve the EU ambitious Green Deal objectives. The Batteries Regulation provides a stable regulatory framework for continuing supporting the EU climate action agenda. The proposal puts in place an ambitious sustainability framework for batteries, and helps stepping up efforts to manage environmental and social impacts along the entire battery value chain”.
EUROBAT will coordinate efforts along the battery value chain to ensure an effective cooperation between the different actors towards managing batteries’ end of life. It is important that responsibility over batteries take back and recycling are allocated to the best placed industry players.
EUROBAT also supports a stricter regulation of the use of Guarantees of Origin and similar instruments for battery manufacturers to demonstrate the sourcing of renewable energy to power their operations. A mandatory temporal and geographical link between the source of renewable energy and the battery manufacturing plant needs to be built into the carbon footprint methodology to avoid misleading sustainability reporting.
EU battery manufacturers have been engaging with all involved stakeholders for over two years, and will continue supporting policy-makers, civil society, and industry in the next phases of the legislative process towards a proper implementation of the Batteries Regulation.
Background
The European Commission presented in December 2020 a proposal to review the 2006 Battery Directive with the goal to bring the EU legislative framework on batteries up to speed with technological evolution and the increasing production and demand of batteries. The Commission’s goal was threefold: strengthening the EU internal market for batteries; promoting a circular economy; and reducing the environmental and social impacts throughout a battery’s lifecycle. Policy-makers across the EU co-legislators have been working on the Commission’s proposal for close to two years. Four political trilogues and dozens of technical meetings have taken place before a political agreement was eventually reached on Friday 9 December at the final trilogue meeting. The publication of the final version of the Batteries Regulation is expected for 2023, and co-legislators will now need to agree on the pieces of secondary legislation that will guide the implementation of the proposal.
About EUROBAT:
EUROBAT is the leading association for European automotive and industrial battery manufacturers, covering all battery technologies, and has more than 50 members. The members and staff work with all policymakers, industry stakeholders, NGOs and media to highlight the important role batteries play for decarbonised mobility and energy systems as well as all other numerous applications.
Source: https://www.eurobat.org
Published by CVTI