Compliance with the EU’s carbon footprint requirements for electric vehicle batteries: An overview of challenges

Compliance with the EU’s carbon footprint requirements for electric vehicle batteries: An overview of challenges

An electric vehicle being charged
Type
Author
Vasileios Rizos,
Hien Vu
Publication Date
December, 2024
Country
Belgium
Language for original content
Scope

Driven by government support, decarbonisation efforts and technological advancements, electric vehicles – with their lithium-ion batteries – are becoming increasingly common. Electric vehicles produce fewer emissions than combustion engine ones, but fewer is not zero. The emissions they do produce across their lifespan (production, use, recycling) need to be mapped.

Calculating their carbon footprint (the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come from the production, use and end-of-life of a product or service) is key and required by the Batteries Regulation (EU) 2023/1542.

This paper looks at the challenges of calculating batteries’ carbon footprint and implementing the relevant obligations for companies introducing batteries into the EU market.