Ensuring Eco-Friendly Batteries Across Europe: A Guide
The European Commission is developing new rules aimed at ensuring minimal carbon emissions associated with the deployment of batteries. These rules will apply to multiple companies and will address how they can account for the use of renewable energy.
The current green energy certificate system has been criticised for potentially leading to significant greenwashing. The new rules, if designed effectively and transparently, could help prevent this. The credibility of carbon footprint claims depends on the rules for calculating these values, and the details of how companies will calculate their carbon emissions are still being worked out.
Battery makers have the option to use the average grid emissions of the country where their batteries are produced or plant-specific values. For instance, a battery produced in Germany has a carbon footprint of 85 gCO2e/kWh, while a battery produced with the average Chinese grid has a carbon footprint of 105 gCO2e/kWh. Countries with lower CO₂ emissions in battery production, such as Germany, are primarily those using cleaner energy sources and advanced recycling methods, while countries with high water and energy consumption in lithium extraction, like Chile and Hungary, have higher environmental impacts.
To encourage battery manufacture in regions with cleaner energy and stricter environmental controls, the rules could incentivize locating battery production facilities near low-carbon energy sources. The European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) report allows battery makers to purchase green energy certificates throughout the EU market, which could further promote the use of renewable energy in battery production.
The exact impact of these rules on carbon emissions is not specified, but their effectiveness in reducing carbon emissions is contingent upon their design without loopholes. The Editorial Board, EVBoosters, emphasises the importance of transparency and fairness in the implementation of these rules to ensure a greener and more sustainable battery industry.
