Press Releases
5th October 2022
Global Battery Alliance launches Greenhouse Gas Rulebook for Battery Passport
The Global Battery Alliance (“GBA”), a multi-stakeholder organisation to establish a sustainable battery value chain by 2030, today launches its Greenhouse Gas Rulebook for calculating and tracking the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles. The Rulebook, which was developed in collaboration with Sphera and a wide range of public-private stakeholders spanning global value chains, is the first framework of its kind to facilitate the collection of standardised, auditable, and comparable GHG data for batteries.
As a powerful and clean energy storage solution, batteries are a major near-term driver in the net-zero transition. However, the battery value chain is still relatively opaque and associated with issues such as high CO2 emissions and environmental degradation. The GHG Rulebook addresses this by providing a method by which value chain data can be generated and collected in a homogenous way, bringing transparency to the carbon footprint of batteries across their lifecycle. While incorporating many existing standards and guidelines, including guidance from the EU and ISO, the Rulebook goes beyond these to set globally harmonised rules for batteries, paving the way for more reliable, accessible and consistent GHG data on batteries.
The Rulebook sets out around 80 rules in an easy-to-use format for industry actors. To provide a comprehensive framework, it was developed with input from 41 GBA members, who collectively span the full EV battery value chain and include representation from civil society and government bodies, such as Tesla, Renault, Eurasian Resources Group, BASF, Saft, Umicore, Natural Resources Canada and Transport & Environment. While this first public version of the GHG Rulebook is already a result of collaborative, multi-stakeholder efforts, the GBA plans to continue consultation with external stakeholders, with a view to incorporating their feedback into the creation of future versions. This approach aims to result in the widespread adoption of the Rulebook.
The purpose of the Rulebook is to act as the first quantitative performance indicator and begin establishing the framework for consistent data collection for the GBA Battery Passport. The Battery Passport will be a digital product passport for batteries, acting as a digital twin of the physical battery to collect and store data for tracking and tracing material flows. It will also encompass sustainability reporting against key performance indicators, including the battery carbon footprint. It will provide end-users with key information about a battery’s ESG performance, material provenance, chemical make-up, and manufacturing history, by collecting, exchanging, collating and reporting data among all lifecycle contributors. In doing so, the Passport will certify compliance with both legal and societal expectations around ESG performance and clearly differentiate more valuable batteries in the market based on their sourcing and manufacturing history.
Benedikt Sobotka, Co-Chair of the Global Battery Alliance and CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, said: “We are delighted to share the publication of the GBA’s GHG Rulebook, which represents a major milestone on the journey towards a sustainable battery value chain. The Rulebook stands out from similar methodologies on how to measure GHG emissions thanks to the GBA’s global, collaborative approach, which has resulted in a framework that can be widely accepted and utilised. This has been achieved via a long and ongoing consultation process, focussed on ensuring proportionate representation from all relevant stakeholders. I firmly believe that through the implementation of the Rulebook, we can help drive down emissions across the entire battery value chain.”
Martin Brudermüller, Co-Chair of the Global Battery Alliance and CEO of BASF, said: “The Global Battery Alliance is a frontrunner on how to set credible rules for sustainable value chains under the Battery Passport program. The multilateral agreement about the GHG Rulebook provides the necessary consensus to transparency. With this knowledge, various industry players in the battery value chain have now the tool in hand to decisively drive down the environmental impact of their processes – and this on a global level.”
Julia Poliscanova, GBA’s Board Director and Senior Director for Vehicles and Emobility at Transport & Environment, said: “Sustainably produced batteries are essential to wean the world off fossil fuels. But regulators and society at large expect to know where the materials come from, how the batteries were made and how many carbon emissions they have released. This is where the GBA’s GHG Rulebook comes in. It will ensure that data is gathered consistently so we can have confidence in the claims made by global manufacturers.”
About the Global Battery Alliance:
The GBA brings together around 110 leading international organisations, NGOs, industry actors, academics and governments to align collectively in a pre-competitive approach, in order to drive systemic change across the battery value chain. Incubated by the World Economic Forum in 2017 until its incorporation as a not-for-profit organisation in 2022, members of the GBA collaborate to achieve the goals set out in the GBA 2030 Vision and agree to the Ten GBA Guiding Principles. The GBA’s multi-stakeholder governance structure aims to ensure inclusivity in decision-making and strategic focus. Its Action Partnerships provide a collaborative platform for members to pool their expertise and achieve the shared goals of circularity, environmental protection and sustainable development.
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