It is reported that the European Union recently issued the “New Battery Act”, which stipulates that by 2026, power batteries and industrial batteries must hold “battery passports” before they can be sold in the European Economic Area. The “Battery Passport” requires enterprises to record the manufacturer, material composition, carbon footprint, supply chain and other information of batteries. This will have a great impact on the export of China power battery enterprises to Europe.
The latest battery bill of the European Union has been implemented, which may have a significant impact on China’s power battery enterprises when exporting products to Europe. Some insiders said that it may trigger new “green trade barriers”.
For battery enterprises in China, the first problem is carbon footprint statement. From July 2024, almost all batteries exported to Europe must provide carbon footprint statements and labels. This requires battery manufacturers to collect and calculate carbon emission data from raw material mining, production, use, recycling and other aspects, and make public disclosure. However, the battery enterprises in China have accumulated less carbon footprint in the whole life cycle, and there is still a lack of mature digital tools in China. At the same time, the standard database is not unified, and the international mutual recognition mechanism has not been established, which has increased the difficulty.
The second problem is the recycling requirements of battery materials. According to the new battery law, power batteries need to use a certain proportion of recycled materials. However, the identification mechanism of the use of recycled raw materials in China is still weak, so it is difficult to judge which batteries use recycled raw materials and the proportion. This is also a big problem for future exports.
The third problem involves a high degree of transparency in battery passports. From February 18, 2027, most power batteries need to carry a “battery passport” when entering Europe, which must contain key information about the battery. According to the new battery law of the European Union, a user-friendly battery passport needs to record about 90 mandatory data attributes and some voluntarily provided information. This will require manufacturers to make more comprehensive information disclosure and increase the burden on enterprises.
The impact of the new battery method on China’s industrial chain lies in the following aspects: firstly, the relevant requirements of carbon emissions will force export enterprises to carry out zero-carbon transformation, and the production technology will be innovated in the direction of high efficiency, low energy consumption, environmental protection and low carbon; Secondly, it is expected that China’s recycling system will be improved, which will drive the green transformation of China’s industrial chain and promote the sustainable development of the industry. Strict recycling requirements or favorable enterprises that have cooperated with overseas manufacturers to arrange recycling; In addition, battery passports are designed to ensure the transparency of the supply chain, and export enterprises will face challenges such as passport database construction, passport management system maintenance and international unified standards construction.
At present, China head battery enterprises, including Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and Ganfeng Lithium Battery, are actively laying out the fields of battery life cycle quality management, battery carbon footprint and so on. Accelerate the establishment and improvement of the green evaluation standard system for battery products, and actively carry out research on the methodology and standards of battery carbon footprint.
Post time: Sep-26-2023