On 11 December 2019, the European Commission unveiled the EU strategy on climate neutral Europe, or the European Green Deal. The strategy promises to ensure that there are no net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, including increasing the EU’s 2030 GHG reduction target to at least 50%, and towards 55% in a responsible way. This clear shift towards sustainable and zero emissions technologies and economy-wide change is urgently needed if the EU is to meet the ambition of the Paris Agreement. Electro-mobility is already ubiquitous in our lives, from road vehicles to rail, as it is key to clean cities, affordable mobility of all Europeans and our industrial competitiveness.

In March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Europe and confined Europeans to their homes, halting business activity and closing factories for months. As Europe slowly goes back to life, the deepest economic recession since the 1930s heralds a new normal. But the relevance of the Green Deal or the urgency of climate action have not disappeared – the twin challenges of economic and climate crises must be tackled together. Electrification is the strong basis to relaunch the economy and create futureproof jobs fast.

The Green Deal should be the basis of the economic recovery, starting with today. This policy paper outlines the Green Deal vision and green recovery recommendations of the European
Platform for Electro-mobility, representing almost 40 companies, associations and civil society across the electro-mobility ecosystem.

Notably:

  • Electromobility remains the best solution to achieve the climate and industrial ambition of the European Green Deal for transport. This ecosystem is crucial to Europe’s economic
    relaunch in the aftermath of COVID-19 and will create over 1 million jobs in vehicle and rail manufacturing, charging infrastructure deployment and supply chains such as batteries by
    2030.
  • The EU Recovery Package must support the e-mobility ecosystem, including the continued demand for zero emission vehicles, green investments into e-mobility supply chains and
    stimulus to accelerate the roll-out of charging infrastructure across Europe, notably workplace & residential schemes.
  • The Commission should not delay the enabling policies key to e-mobility’s success, including the urgently needed review of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure law, the Sustainable Battery
    package and the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive.

Batteries will underpin Europe’s efforts to achieve a climate neutral economy and transport electrification. In the European Green Deal, the European Commission stated that a ‘90% reduction in transport emissions is needed by 2050 (compared to 1990)’ and that road transport needs to move to zero emissions beyond 2025 . In order to reach this objective, Europe will have to significantly increase the uptake of zero emission technologies, with a strong emphasis on battery electric vehicles.

This will require large amounts of batteries on the European market required to power the mass expected number of zero emission vehicles. Within this context, the Commission should therefore take stronger action and prioritise these zero emission technologies in the upcoming EU Industrial Strategy and the Circular Economy Action Plan planned for March 2020 to support the domestic production of sustainable batteries.

In preparation for the upcoming EU Battery Strategy expected for October 2020, the Commission must prioritise a circular economy approach when it comes to addressing the recycling of batteries. This includes ensuring the security of supply of raw materials, the reuse (where adequate) and recycling of batteries, as well as the high  environmental and social values in the manufacturing process as ways to promote a sustainable EU battery industry. Moreover, it will be extremely important to take note of the emerging new jobs related to the dismantling and recycling sector overall, as well as the processing and the reincorporation of used active materials within new batteries (i.e. when repurposing is economically proven to be better than recycling).

This is the only path to build a strong and competitive sustainable battery industry in Europe. Success in the European EV revolution is heavily  dependent on the success of Europe’s up and coming battery industry. Only with clear focus and political will, can Europe fully enhance the benefits of a home-grown industry, bringing economic value, jobs and growth as a part of the energy transition.