New EU battery rules reach far beyond Europe
Sustainability image: Roberto Sorin / Unsplash
New European rules should make batteries more sustainable. But proving that manufacturers meet those requirements will require a verification system that works worldwide, researchers including scientists from Leiden University write in Science.
New European battery regulations require a new verification system that is both rigorous and practical. That is the conclusion of researchers from Leiden University, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Ecoinvent and Nanjing University in Science.
The EU has introduced sustainability requirements for batteries sold on the European market. These cover issues such as carbon footprints, circularity, responsible sourcing of raw materials and digital product information.
What is new is that Brussels is also prescribing how companies must demonstrate compliance with these requirements. Because battery supply chains are organised globally, these rules could have an impact far beyond Europe.
Challenge: strict rules that can be applied worldwide
‘The challenge is not a choice between rigour and representativeness,’ says Ranran Wang, co-author of the paper. Wang previously worked at the Institute for Environmental Sciences of Leiden University and is now a researcher at Nanjing University. ‘We need strict sustainability rules, but they must also work across very different production contexts. If we make the right choices now, the consequences could extend far beyond the battery sector alone.’
‘Most steps in battery production take place outside the EU. The EU therefore needs to ensure that its rules can be applied worldwide.’
Those choices must takeinto account conditions outside Europe . ‘Most stages of battery production take place outside the EU. If the EU wants to reduce emissions, it must ensure that global supply chains are both willing and able to work with its accounting rules,’ says Edgar Hertwich, co-author of the paper and Principal Research Scholar at IIASA.
Sustainable battery production: not just rules, but proof
At first glance, a sustainability claim sounds straightforward: a battery has a certain carbon footprint, contains recycled materials or is produced using responsibly sourced raw materials. But how do you prove that?
Doing so requires data, calculation methods and verification procedures. These, too, are being defined in European legislation. This is precisely where the authors focus their attention. After all, regulations are only as effective as the system used to demonstrate compliance.
The Brussels Effect gains a new dimension
The influence of European regulation beyond the EU is often referred to as the Brussels Effect. Multinational companies adapt their production processes or operations worldwide because complying with European rules is economically advantageous.
‘In the case of batteries, that effect could be substantial,’ says Leiden environmental scientist Yanan Liang, lead author of the paper.
A common yardstick
A strict, shared system for verifying sustainability offers several advantages. Sustainability claims become easier to compare. It becomes more difficult to engage in greenwashing. Regulators can also more easily determine whether companies are complying with the rules.
At the same time, the battery sector is highly complex. Supply chains span multiple countries. The available data may vary by country or company. Technical expertise, digital infrastructure and verification capacity are also unevenly distributed.
When better performance goes unrewarded
Current rules attempt to account for these differences by using generalised data. Take the example of green electricity. The EU bases calculations on the average electricity mix of a national grid. Yet some regions or factories perform far better than that average.
‘If a manufacturer can credibly demonstrate that its electricity is cleaner than the national average, that should be reflected in the battery’s carbon footprint,’ says Robert Istrate, co-author of the paper and Assistant Professor at CML.
The authors are not arguing for a lower standard. Rather, they argue that current approaches may fail to provide an accurate picture of how a battery was actually produced. They may also remove incentives for manufacturers to improve if those improvements are not recognised.
What counts as credible evidence?
Liang explains: ‘If sustainability regulations are to work globally, the systems used to collect and assess evidence must also be capable of functioning globally.’
‘And not every difference in data or verification has the same impact on the final outcome,’ adds Hertwich. Industrial ecology can help identify where evidence requirements need to be strict and where some flexibility is possible without undermining comparability. That way, effort can be focused on the factors that genuinely influence a battery’s carbon footprint.’
Scientific publication
Liang, Y. et al. A Brussels effect for battery sustainability. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aed8133