The session was a part of the International Industrial Ecology Day 2023 (November 30) – the 3rd IE Day organized by the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE).
Co-chairs:
• Christoph Helbig, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
• Manuel Baumann, KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany
• Marcel Weil, KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany
• Jens Peters, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
The global battery market is facing the huge challenge of continued rapid growth to facilitate the transition to electric mobility and storage of renewable energy. It is simultaneously challenged with raw material shortages, concerns regarding the carbon and environmental footprint of battery production, ever-changing technical specifications and thus material compositions, and a need for an efficient circular economy of batteries. The EU introduced a new Battery Regulation as an environmental regulation specifying minimum requirements for batteries sold on the EU market. The US introduced measures to support the battery industry financially with the Inflation Reduction Act. China is seeking to maintain and expand its leading position as battery producer for global market, but geopolitical tensions make their way into commodity markets. Therefore, the question arises where we stand globally on the path towards more sustainable battery material flows, what affects the sustainability of batteries and what are the key trends in the sector. In this session, we want to discuss recent findings on the sustainability of global battery material flows. We want to hear from experts in academia and industry on positive and negative influences of new regulation schemes in the battery sector, on challenges for production and recycling facilities, on how battery materials can be kept in the loop and how to reduce harmful environmental impacts associated with battery production. The panel discussion shall then help to identify knowledge gaps and corresponding further needs for industrial ecology research.
Session structure: 90 minutes in total, 4 presentations of 15 minutes each, followed by a panel discussion open for questions from the audience, all via Zoom.
Speakers and topics:
0-5 Introduction to the session by Christoph Helbig, University of Bayreuth
5-20 Alissa Kendall, UC Davis, USA: Key levers and leakages in battery material flows
20-35 Anika Neitz-Regett, FfE Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft, Munich, Germany: Circular Approaches for Batteries – Opportunities and Challenges
35-50 Stefan Wolf, VDI-VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, Berlin, Germany: “Sustainable Batteries: Easy to imagine, difficult to achieve”
50-65 Susanna Andreasi Bassi, JRC, Ispra, Italy: Applying the Environmental Footprint in environmental legislation – The carbon footprint rules for batteries
65-90 Panel discussion, open to questions from the audience