Sustainable battery manufacturing – Can Europe take the lead?

On Wednesday 17 October 2018, Pavel Poc MEP, Chair of the EP Intergroup on “Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Sustainable Development” and Ismail Ertug MEP, Chair of the “Friends of the Battery” Working Group of the EP Intergroup on“Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Sustainable Development” hosted the event entitled: “Sustainable battery manufacturing – Can Europe take the lead?” in the European Parliament.

In October 2017, Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission launched the European Battery Alliance, an industry-led initiative aimed at scaling up battery production in Europe and improving the EU industry’s competitiveness in this strategic sector.

The journey towards industrial leadership is only starting but progress has been made. Over the past year, institutions and over a 100 stakeholders from diverse horizons have carried out intensive discussions, established a list of priorities and as a result, the Strategic Action Plan on Batteries was published by the Commission in May 2018. This holistic work encompasses all aspects of the value chain that need to be addressed to boost the battery sector in Europe: sustainable sourcing of materials, sustainable production, competitiveness, applications and business models, recycling and second life, R&I and skills, etc. while ensuring coherence with and mutually reinforcement of other EU policy initiatives.

The European Parliament supports the initiative, with the creation of the working group ‘Friends of European Batteries’ under auspices of the Intergroup on “Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development”. This event aimed to take stock of progress and look at the way forward, especially with regard for ongoing work on the revision of the Batteries Directive and upcoming initiatives such as the Green Label for Batteries and the Product Passport. During the panel discussion, participants will debate which concrete measures should ensure a competitive production and sustainable value chain taking into account environmental, social and economic criteria, and based on a life cycle approach.

The conference was co-organised with RECHARGE.