A post-pandemic plan for green growth needs battery industry’s backing

By

Dr. Steve Binks

Regulatory Affairs Director

International Lead Association

Share this on LinkedInlinkedin logo

A post-pandemic plan for green growth needs battery industry’s backing

Officials and legislators in Europe are united in agreeing to accelerate efforts to decarbonise and boost green growth. They need to help rather than hinder the utilisation of established and reliable supply chains.

The updated Industrial Strategy sets out a roadmap to achieve strategic autonomy while accelerating green growth.

At a recent European Forum for Manufacturing debate on the strategy, the European Commission’s Maive Rute described how thinking has changed following the pandemic. Officials are focused on identifying and protecting vulnerable supply chains and critical raw materials. They have identified 137 strategically important products that could be vulnerable.

The transition to a decarbonised economy will only work if existing key industries continue to deliver the services and products that keep Europe in business. The lead battery value chain is a good example of an existing integrated industry that supplies a vital product for clean mobility, clean energy and other core services – including back-up for hospital power supplies.

An issue that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic was security of supply. The lead battery value chain is strategically autonomous, and it is already delivering on the principles of circularity with a well-established end-to-end recycling process. 100% of collected batteries are recycled and new batteries contain more than 80% recycled materials.

The lead battery industry also ticks other boxes identified by the Commission:

  • Innovation: the global Consortium for Battery Innovation, which has a base in Europe, is driving forward new technology and improved performance across the range of batteries in Europe.
  • Raw material security: lead is professionally and safely recycled in Europe and can be recycled infinitely. There is no reliance on third parties for the core materials in our batteries.
  • Skills development: the value chain supports hundreds of of jobs directly and indirectly in industries from car manufacturing, renewables, energy storage and recycling.

Critically, the Commission’s updated strategy highlights how important a coherent regulatory framework is to achieve its aims. Officials and legislators must work with industry to achieve these goals, avoid contradictory regulatory barriers, and move rapidly to achieving carbon-neutral ambitions.

Read more for why lead is the metal fuelling the EU’s homegrown battery powerhouse.

Sign up to receive news and views like this straight to your inbox or tell us your own by getting in touch here.

More Posts

Marketing Permissions

The Charge the Future campaign will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing. Please let us know all the ways you would like to hear from us:

You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at contact@chargethefuture.org. We will treat your information with respect. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our website. By clicking below, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.