THE CONTEXT
Batteries for electric vehicles and storage of intermittent renewable energy (from sources such as wind and solar) play an important role in climate change mitigation actions. Global battery demand is expected to increase 14-fold by 2030, with the EU accounting for 17%. Batteries are of strategic importance for the EU's transition to a climate neutral economy. Critical raw materials embedded in batteries include antimony in lead-acid batteries; rare earth elements in nickel-metal hydride batteries; and lithium, cobalt and natural graphite in lithium-ion batteries. For electric vehicle batteries and energy storage, the EU will need up to 18 times more lithium and 5 times more cobalt by 2030, and nearly 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt by 2050, compared with the current supply to the whole EU economy.

EXTRACTION OF RAW MATERIALS
The mining and extraction of these raw materials has been associated with adverse environmental impacts (e.g. local water, soil and air pollution; ecosystem and landscape degradation), apart from human rights violations. A recent study concluded that mining potentially influences 50 million km² of the Earth’s land surface, with 8% coinciding with Protected Areas, 7% with Key Biodiversity Areas, and 16% with Remaining Wilderness. Most mining areas (82%) target materials for renewable energy production, and areas that overlap with Protected Areas and Remaining Wilderness contain a greater density of mines compared to the overlapping mining areas that target other materials. Mining threats to biodiversity will increase as more mines target materials for renewable energy production and, without strategic planning, these new threats to biodiversity may surpass those averted by climate change mitigation. Cobalt is a case in point: nearly half the world's cobalt reserves lie in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which accounts for over two-thirds of global cobalt production. A recent JRC report also identifies other EU suppliers of battery raw materials, raising concerns for responsible sourcing. China accounts for 47% of the EU's supplies of natural graphite and nickel, South Africa and Brazil for 26% and 17% of EU manganese supply. Important potential impacts include those on biodiversity in Brazil and water risk and environmental performance in South Africa. The report also identifies future potential risks in the Philippines and Indonesia (nickel), Mozambique and Tanzania (graphite) and Bolivia (lithium).

END-OF-LIFE HANDLING
More than 1.9 million tonnes of waste batteries are generated annually in Europe. Collection and recycling rates, and environmental and health impacts depend heavily on the battery type. Automotive lead-acid batteries have the highest collection and recycling rates: between 90% and 100% of lead is recovered in the EU. Portable batteries have much lower collection rates: only 48% sold in the EU were collected for recycling in 2018. Large amounts of valuable resources are thus lost, and some 35 kilotonnes of portable batteries end up in municipal waste annually with possible leaching of hazardous substances. The remainder is either stored, exported outside the EU in used products, or ends up in e-waste recycling.

RELEVANT EU POLICIES ON BATTERY USE
In October 2017 the Commission set up the European Battery Alliance to support the scaling up of innovative solutions and manufacturing capacity in Europe. In May 2018, as part of the third 'Europe on the move' mobility package, it adopted a dedicated strategic action plan on batteries, with a range of measures covering raw materials extraction, sourcing and processing, battery materials, cell production, battery systems, reuse and recycling. Building on this, the proposal for a regulation on batteries and waste batteries adopted in December 2020 is geared towards modernising EU legislation on batteries in order to ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of EU battery value chains. One of the three groups of problems it addresses are risks currently not covered by EU environmental law. These include: (i) a lack of transparency on sourcing raw materials; (ii) hazardous substances; and (iii) the untapped potential for offsetting the environmental impacts of battery life cycles. The new regulation would introduce mandatory requirements for sustainability and end-of-life management, and due diligence obligations for economic operators as regards the sourcing of raw materials. The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted its report on 10 February 2022 in the European Parliament.