Ref. Ares(2022)75685 - 05/01/2022
DG ENVIRONMENT
Kestutis SADAUSKAS
Director DG ENV B
Meeting with representatives of EUROBAT
(EU-wide umbrella association for automotive and industrial
batteries)
BRIEFING NOTE
Scene setter / Context:
You have accepted to meet the board of EUROBAT, which meets next Wednesday 20
of November.
EUROBAT is the EU wide association that represents the interests of the European
Automotive and Industrial Battery Manufacturers. EUROBAT publishes reports or
position papers on issues related to batteries or components. EUROBAT usually
participates in consultation processes launched by the Commission.
EUROBAT is interested in exchanging views on high-level policy exercises, like the
GREEN DEAL and the 2nd CEAP, to have recent information on the evolution of the
review of legislation on batteries (ELV and Batteries Directives), the development of
sustainable requirements for batteries and on pending issues on chemicals and
REACH. The number of possible subjects for interest for EUROBAT is huge.
EUROBAT has had meetings with the Cabinet of VP Sefkovic and discussed some of
the points presented in this note.
Name of main contact person:
J RIZO (with H HATZI-HILL and J BLOKKER)
Telephone number:
50106
Directorate/Unit:
ENV.B.3
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1.
SPEAKING AND DEFENSIVE POINTS .................................................................. 3
1.1. Green Deal and the new CEAP ......................................................................... 3
1.2. Chemicals .......................................................................................................... 3
1.3. Review and modifications of the ELV and Batteries Directives ....................... 5
1.4. Sustainable requirement for Batteries ............................................................... 6
2.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ............................................................................ 6
2.1. Eurobat .............................................................................................................. 6
2.2. A green transition to Circular Economy ............................................................ 7
2.3. Environmental issues about LEAD ................................................................... 7
2.4. Use and manufacturing of lead-acid batteries. .................................................. 8
2.5. Legislation Applicable to lead acid batteries ..................................................... 8
2.6. Producer responsibility ...................................................................................... 9
2.7. REACH and Batteries ........................................................................................ 9
2.7.1.
REACH and Lead compounds ............................................................ 9
2.7.2.
REACH and Cobalt compounds ........................................................ 10
2.7.3.
REACH and the future management of hazardous substances
in batteries ......................................................................................... 10
1.
SPEAKING AND DEFENSIVE POINTS
1.1.
New CEAP and the Green Deal
What would be the main elements of the new CEAP?
The Commission is preparing a new Circular Economy Action Plan to meet a number
of challenges in relation to sustainable resource use, with a view to promoting
Europe’s economic transition to a truly circular model. We see it as a new
opportunity to improve the competitiveness of EU companies, promote innovation
and research, create new jobs and skills linked to the green economy and clean
technologies and shift to sustainable practices.
The plan will focus on sustainable resource use, especially in resource intensive and
high impact sectors. It will also promote the arrival of circular products to the
markets and the modification of production processes. For instance, phasing out
single-use or short-lived products and replace them with more durable ones. The
Commission is assessing the impact of restrictive measures for primary batteries.
The Commission intends to make proposals that go beyond recycling, strengthening
prevention, recyclability and recycled content aspects. Batteries, for instance, could
be a field where these approaches are implemented.
The plan will also contain supporting initiatives on waste prevention, ensuring strong
implementation and enforcement of the current waste legislation.
The Commission wishes to ensure that key legislation on important waste streams
becomes more circular. In particular, it is expected that the processes of review of the
End-of-Life vehicles Directive and the Batteries Directive be completed during the
first two years of the Commission’s mandate.
How will the Green Deal endorse them?
The CEAP will be part of the GREEN DEAL.
1.2.
Chemicals
What is the position of the Commission as regards the introduction of new measures
on Lead in REACH?
For the time being, the Commission has decided not to include the four lead
compounds in Annex XIV. A proposal for inclusion of new substances in Annex XIV
of REACH without the four lead compounds is currently under the scrutiny by the
European Parliament and the Council.
What are the next steps concerning Lead and chemicals legislation?
The Commission requested ECHA on 26 March 2019 to evaluate lead and its
compounds for an opinion to revise the current occupational exposure limit values
and the biological limit values, in accordance with the Directive 98/24/EC on the
protection of the health and safety of workers from the risks related to chemical
agents at work.
After a preparatory phase, including a call for evidence, the scientific report was
published on ECHA’s website on 17 October 2019. Stakeholders have been invited to
submit comments by 16 December 2019. The final opinion is expected to be ready in
July/August 2020 and will be submitted to the Commission in September 2020.
We encourage EuroBat to submit comments by the 16 of December deadline. Based
on these reports, RAC will develop its opinion.
What is the position of the Commission as regards the introduction of restrictions
for Cobalt?
We consider some advantages to have the chemical group of Cobalt and its salts
regulated under OSH rather than REACH. By turning to OSH, we would also be able
to include the intermediate uses (partly covered by this restriction) and to protect
workers at risk during the recycling and the waste management stages (as REACH
does not cover waste).
Moreover, by tackling Cobalt and its salts as a group of chemicals, we will protect all
the workers involved in the manufacturing of batteries, catalysts and in uses like
surface treatment, pigments/dyes or biotechnology.
The ECHA Committees have not finalised their work. We expect RAC to finalise its
opinion by the end of November during its plenary meeting. We are aware of the
change of RAC compared to the original proposal (a limit value 50 times higher is
proposed) and we will take a decision on the values once the Commission services
will receive both opinions.
We encourage EuroBat to take contact with DG EMPL in order to include Cobalt and
its salts as a priority in the next amendment of the Carcinogens Directive. The
progress made by RAC on the restriction dossier may facilitate the overall evaluation
of ECHA.
Is the Commission aware that the Lead industry is already circular?
There is no doubt that the recycling of lead greatly contributes to reducing pollution
and saving energy and resources. Moreover, as an industrial activity lead recycling is,
today in Europe, a clear success: the industry uses a higher amount of secondary than
of primary lead. Lead recycling is a very important economic activity and it is self-
sustainable because it is profitable
One of the factors that have facilitated the emergence of this activity is our legal
framework and this should not be forgotten, in particular the Batteries and the End of
Life Vehicles Directives. This industry has achieved its current level of importance
thank to these two Directives.
In any event, lead continues to be poisonous and any industry dealing with it has to
be subject to strong control and management measures.
1.3.
Review and modifications of the ELV and Batteries Directives
What is the status of the review of these two directives?
It is expected that the processes of review of the End-of-Life vehicles Directive and
the Batteries Directive be completed during the first two years of the Commission’s
mandate, i.e. in 2020 or 2021.
The process for the Batteries Directive is more advanced, since the evaluation was
completed this year.
Will the Commission revise the current prohibition of lead in the ELV Directive?
Yes, of course, as requested by Annex II of the ELV Directive. The 8th amendment
in 2017 proved that there are alternatives to lead and that the use of lead is therefore
avoidable.
It should be noted that this process is based on technical and scientific progress and
has not socio-economic considerations. The contract for the assessment of scientific
and technical evidence will be launched next year.
What about cadmium?
The exemption for the use of cadmium in batteries for electrical vehicles ended in 31
December 2007. The Commission is aware that suppliers used cadmium in Germany
beyond that date. This information was published last year, and additional
information has been requested to the German Ministry for the Environment.
In any event, the status of the cadmium in batteries should be clearly established in
the revised text of the Batteries Directive.
Is the Commission considering proposing targets for the collection of waste
industrial and automotive batteries in the revised Batteries Directive?
Yes. The Commission is assessing whether establishing such targets will result in
environmental, economic and social benefits.
We are aware that the industry usually considers that there is no need to have such
targets for waste lead-acid batteries because their market value ensures the collection
and treatment. Unfortunately, we do not see that the information available proves it.
Even if the amount of lost waste batteries is low, it will be still too much.
The Commission relies in the cooperation with manufacturers and waste collectors to
identify the best means to set these targets and to control and monitor the results.
There is some degree of overlapping between the two Directives, on e.g. extended
producer responsibility issues or reporting. Will the review address them?
The interaction of the two directives has been looked at initially by the Evaluation of
the Batteries Directive, and the assessment will be completed by the on-going
evaluation of the ELV Directive.
The Commission is aware that batteries producers and carmakers have complained on
a number of occasions for double legislation, underlining the risks for their proper
implementation. The Commission sees room for improvement.
When the text of these two directives is revised, particular care will be made to
establish clear demarcation lines as regards obligations (on extended producer
responsibilities for instance) or reporting (on automotive batteries).
The Commission is aware that some stakeholders would prefer that the number of
legal instruments dealing with batteries be reduced. While accepting the need of
integration of all provisions concerned, it is still too early to advance how the legal
instruments concerned will be linked.
1.4.
Sustainable requirement for Batteries
What kind of sustainability requirements does the Commission consider that should
be met by batteries?
All types of batteries will be subject in the future to compliance with some
sustainability requirements. Let me remind you the current prohibition of the use of
mercury or cadmium, the obligations on removability, etc. The Commission is for
instance considering the establishment of ‘minimum levels of recycled content,’
which would oblige all new batteries to be manufactured using secondary materials.
The exercise you mention in your invitation, which is led by our colleagues of DG
GROW, focusses on electromobility batteries. Particular aspects will be considered,
namely in relation to CO2 emissions, energy round-up efficiency, reusability etc.
The Commission has not yet decided how the results of this initiative will be pooled
with those of the revision of the Batteries Directive. That is why we prefer to talk
about ‘elements of the new regulatory framework’ for batteries.
2.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
2.1.
Eurobat
EUROBAT declared purpose is to study all matters of interest to storage battery
manufacturers and their sub-contractors in Europe, Middle East and Africa. According to
its website, EUROBAT’s activities include:
Promoting the regulatory commercial and economic interests of the European
automotive, industrial and special battery industries;
Facilitating a continued growth of the European industry;
Working with stakeholders to help develop new battery solutions.
De facto, EUROBAT represents the interest of the automotive and industrial batteries.
EUROBAT activities have targeted mostly lead-acid batteries, but they are progressively
broadening their interests to cover also lithium-based ones.
EUROBAT uses to participate in consultation processes launched by the Commission
with the occasion of evaluations (as e.g. of the Batteries Directive or of the ELV
Directive), technical updates of legislation (as e.g. Annex II of the ELV Directive) or the
adoption of measures on chemicals under REACH.
2.2.
A green transition to Circular Economy
The Commission considers that spite the advances towards a more sustainable economy,
there remain several challenges the EU has to face,
The EU has so far managed to reduce greenhouse gases, decoupling emissions
from economic growth. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve a
climate-neutral Europe by 2050.
EU’s consumption and production patterns exert growing pressure on natural
resources of any kind, biotic and abiotic. Europe still produces too much waste
and squanders resources.
Efforts should be continued and accelerated to complete the transition towards a
Circular Economy. Important steps have been made, including the adoption in
2018 of the world’s first Plastic Strategy, but this is not enough.
To meet these challenges, the Commission is preparing a new Circular Economy Action
Plan, to scale up and accelerate Europe’s economic transition to a truly circular model.
The plan will focus on sustainable resource use, especially in resource intensive and high
impact sectors such as food, textiles and construction. Ensuring the circular use of a
number of key materials (steel, aluminium, cement and plastic) - could halve Europe’s
industrial emissions.
The Action plan will be built on few key pillars:
1. Promotion of circular products and production processes: phasing out single-use
or short-lived products and replace them with more durable ones.
2. Empowering consumers and public authorities in their procurement: reliable,
comparable and harmonised information on the environmental impact of products
makes green purchases easier.
3. Prevention and minimisation of waste to achieve a quicker decoupling of growth
and use of resources. We need to move beyond recycling and take steps to
prevent waste creation, including for food.
4. Supporting initiatives on waste prevention, ensuring strong implementation and
enforcement of the current waste legislation and futureproofing and making more
circular legislation on key waste streams (packaging, batteries and end-of-life
vehicles) and the rules on waste shipments
In the first two years of the Commission’s mandate, the following reviews are due:
Packaging and Packaging Waste, End-of-Life vehicles, Restriction of Hazardous
Substances (RoHS), Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), the Waste Shipment
Regulation and Batteries Directive.
2.3.
Environmental issues about LEAD
Lead (metal) and its compounds are extremely toxic. Poisoning ('saturnism') affects the
brain, nervous system, blood, and digestive system and can be either chronic or acute.
For these reasons, the EU legislation strongly regulates the use of lead and of the
associated industrial processes.
Furthermore, scrap lead-acid batteries are categorised as hazardous waste. Exports
outside the Member State concerned or outside the EU are subject to specific rules on the
shipment of waste. The shipment of scrap lead-acid batteries between Member States,
within the EU or with transit through third countries, is subject to a procedure of prior
written notification and consent by the competent authorities.
The extraction of raw materials ('primary lead') and the processing of components of
lead-acid batteries are the production phases with the most important environmental
impact, by far. The recycling of lead-metal and alloys considerably reduces the need for
production of primary lead and, therefore, dramatically reduces the environmental impact
of the process as a whole. The smelting and refining of secondary lead continues
nevertheless to be the most important sources of emissions and releases in EU countries.
The recycling of scrap lead-acid batteries is subject to specific rules in the European
Union.
2.4.
Use and manufacturing of lead-acid batteries.
Lead-acid batteries include automotive batteries and industrial batteries. Automotive
batteries are used for supplying starter-lighting-ignition power in motor vehicles.
Industrial batteries are used for supplying motive power in industrial electric vehicles or
for supplying standby power in industrial installations or stationary equipment.
Automotive batteries account for around 80 to 85 % of scrap lead-acid batteries; the rest
are industrial batteries.
Many of the lithium-based batteries also depend on lead batteries as a back-up.
Furthermore, lead batteries account for 75% of the energy storage in the EU.
The manufacture of lead-acid batteries accounts for around 80 to 85 % of the production
of recycled lead at worldwide level. The collection and recycling rate of (automotive)
lead-acid batteries in the EU is estimated at 99 %.
There are various industrial processes for the treatment and recycling of lead-acid
batteries. In any event, the various operations needed (battery breaking, smelting,
refining, alloying, recycling of other materials) might entail serious risks for the
environment if they are not properly managed.
2.5.
Legislation Applicable to lead acid batteries
The End-of-life Vehicles Directive (ELV) bans the use of four hazardous substances in
the new vehicles, one of which is lead. Lifecycle emissions from lead, cadmium, mercury
and hexavalent chromium in cars have fallen by nearly 100% since most uses of the
heavy metals were banned.
Annex II to the ELV Directive allows the use of lead, as an
exemption, where its use is
unavoidable. The 8th amendment of this Annex in 2017 proved that there are alternatives
to lead (ex. indium) and the use of lead is therefore avoidable. It also split this exemption
in two: one ended in 2018 the use of lead in batteries in high voltage systems that are
used only for propulsion small passenger cars and small trucks.
The exemption for all remaining batteries will be assessed in the next amendment of
Annex II, scheduled for 2021. The contract for this evaluation will be launched next year.
It should be noted that the evaluation of Annex II is based on technical and scientific
progress and has not socio-economic considerations that may be added in the upcoming
review of the ELV Directive in line with RoHS. This may be used for opposing to the
end of lead-acid batteries for the price (lead vs indium) the profitability of the recycling
and the fact that there are many lead-acid batteries recycling plants in the EU providing
jobs.
The Batteries Directive sets rules for the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of
waste batteries. Member States must also ensure that batteries that have been collected
are treated and recycled and that these processes reach minimum levels of (industrial)
efficiency.
The directive does not establishes
targets for the collection of waste automotive and
industrial batteries. This is a shortcoming identified by the evaluation.
2.6.
Producer responsibility
Batteries and car industries have complained on a number of occasions for double
legislation but the Commission always had a clear understanding for the use of both
Directives regarding batteries:
EPR applies to the producer of the battery who is who places the battery on the
market. For the automotive batteries, the car producer is also the battery producer.
For the batteries that are sold independently as spare parts, the battery producer is the
producer
The producer has the obligation to contribute financially to the collection and
recycling. In the case of the cars, the car producer is responsible for the collection of
the batteries in the authorised treatment facilities for the ELVs or the repair garages
for the other vehicles. The battery is then handed over to the battery recycler for
further treatment. For the car producer, it is counted as 100% recycling for the ELV
targets.
The evaluation of the Batteries Directive has underlined that, as regards industrial
batteries, the system is (and will be) clearly insufficient. New provisions will be
developed to address this insufficiency.
2.7.
REACH and Batteries
2.7.1. REACH and Lead compounds
One year ago ENV met EUROBAT, which expressed concerns about the possible
inclusion of four lead substances in REACH Annex XIV of substances for authorisation
(tetralead trioxide sulphate; pentalead tetraoxide sulphate; orange lead (lead tetroxide)
and lead monoxide (lead oxide)), of which two (lead sulphates) are entirely used in
battery production.
EUROBAT stressed that batteries are sealed, almost fully recycled and that therefore the
risk only occurs at the work place (dealing with the production but also with the
recycling of batteries). For EUROBAT, OSH legislation is more appropriate for
regulating lead substances. EUROBAT referred to blood analysis results of workers,
demonstrating that concentrations are well below the current legal OSH limit value (also
due to the fact that the limit value is outdated.) According to EUROBAT, authorisation
because of Annex XIV inclusion would lead to relocation of lead battery production
outside the EU.
2.7.2. REACH and Cobalt compounds
In 2017, ENV requested the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to prepare an Annex
XV dossier in view of a possible restriction under REACH on five cobalt salts classified
as carcinogen category 1B and listed in the candidate list of substances of very high
concern.
Cobalt sulphate, cobalt dichloride, cobalt dinitrate, cobalt carbonate and cobalt diacetate
are the five salts concerned.
The Annex XV dossier was published by ECHA on 19 December 2018, when the
assessment procedure of the two ECHA Committees on Risk Assessment (RAC) and on
Socio-Economic analysis (SEAC) started. Today the procedure is still ongoing and we
may expect a final adoption of RAC by the end of this year and a final adoption of SEAC
in the first quarter of 2020. This means that the Commission will receive from ECHA
before June 2020 the consolidated opinion by RAC and SEAC. Based on this
information, the Commission will take the decision whether to proceed with REACH
restriction, if the unacceptable risk from the exposure to the five cobalt salts is
demonstrated needing to be addressed on a Community-wide basis.
ECHA’s initial proposal was based on a dose response relationship derived for the
respirable fraction of the five cobalt salts, using RAC methodology to calculate the levels
of excess cancer risk, which corresponded to an exposure level of 0.01 micrograms of
Co/m3 for an excess lifetime cancer risk in workers of 1.05 x10-5. In practical terms, the
limit of 0.01 would save one cancer case per year.
2.7.3. REACH and the future management of hazardous substances in
batteries
During the evaluation of the Batteries Directive, the stakeholders made clear their
preference for REACH as regards the management of hazardous substances in batteries.
Or, at least, that current instruments like the Batteries Directive or the ELV Directive are
not adequate. Amongst the reasons for such preference, the fact that criteria for the
definition of hazardousness and its assessment are lacking and that these two directives
are based upon hazards consideration are often mentioned.