Conference statement
Recommendations of the Civil EU Presidency on EV Battery Production
Towards the European Union
- Electromobility-related industries, including the entire battery-production chain, should be covered by the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU) and have binding best available techniques for all areas as soon as possible.
- We support classifying battery waste, including lithium-based batteries, as hazardous waste. The current practice—for example in Hungary—of not treating scrap lithium batteries as hazardous is unacceptable.
- The chemical composition of electrolytes and their additives should not be classified as an industrial secret. These substances are potentially toxic and flammable, and their pollution cannot currently be monitored.
- Strict EU standards should be developed for materials used in battery production, particularly NMP, covering both air and wastewater emissions. Environmental quality standards should be established for the most relevant substances in surface water and groundwater.
- A common EU legal interpretation is needed regarding where electromobility-related battery waste must be treated and where the recycling obligation for vehicle batteries arises: in the country of production or distribution. Obligations at every stage of battery recycling must also be clarified.
Towards the Hungarian Government
- The Hungarian Government should disclose its plans for further battery-industry development, including planned locations for waste-treatment and recycling companies.
- Investments must be preceded by adequate information and continuous consultation with the leaders and residents of the affected municipalities.
- A chemical expert should participate in licensing procedures for battery-manufacturing plants that use chemicals.
- As in the earlier regulation for wind farms, factories or plants using disruptive, flammable, explosive or severely toxic substances should not be allowed within 12 kilometres of residential areas or within 2 kilometres of protected areas and the national ecological network.
- Residents living within one kilometre of existing factories should receive compensation for disruption, deterioration in quality of life and loss of property value.
- Publicly accessible outdoor-air, soil, light, noise and water-monitoring systems should operate near every battery-related factory, financed by the investors.
- No water should be extracted from groundwater bodies for industrial use without an advance water-balance calculation. Aquifers must be monitored continuously.
- In cases of irregularity, fines should be calculated as a percentage of a battery factory’s turnover. Authorities need more staff, and inspections must be frequent and effective.
- Confidentiality agreements with workers should be limited to technological details. Employers must publicly communicate all information concerning health, safety and environmental protection, under penalty of criminal prosecution. Theoretical and practical occupational-health and industrial-safety training must be compulsory, and trainers must ensure that workers understand the material.
- EU directives and rules on battery-industry emissions and hazardous waste must be transposed immediately and enforced effectively.