• First publicly available Battery Passport Content Guidance aims to support the implementation of the digital battery passport as mandated by the new EU Battery Regulation;

• It provides guidance on reporting requirements for the responsible economic actors of the battery passport and other participants along the battery value chain and is also of interest for the broader battery passport ecosystem incl. standard development organisations and regulators;

• As a major milestone of the Battery Pass Consortium, the Content Guidance is an essential element of the project’s overall support of the European Union’s agenda of a twin transition (digital and green) and towards increased sustainability and circularity.

Hannover, 17th April 2023 – A consortium of eleven leading international organisations from industry, technology and science has today launched the first publicly available Content Guidance on the EU Battery Passport. It is designed to support the implementation of the battery passport as mandated by the new EU Battery Regulation in a way that is feasible for industry players while guaranteeing the environmental and economic benefits of a digital product passport. Published by the Battery Pass project with co-funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the Content Guidance primarily addresses organisations responsible for implementing the battery passport (“responsible economic operators”) and other battery value chain participants. It aims to provide a timely and comprehensive guidance on how to achieve compliance with the Battery Regulation and enable increased sustainability and circularity.

The Content Guidance was officially handed over at Hannover Messe to Michael Kellner, Parliamentary State Secretary, BMWK, in a ceremony hosted as part of the Ministry’s stage programme on ‘Funding focus “Battery cell production in Germany”. Sustainable battery cell production – a cornerstone for the climate-friendly mobility of the future’.

Commenting at the hand-over, Michael Kellner, Parliamentary State Secretary, BMWK, said: “The results of the Battery Passport project are a major milestone in the project’s 3-year journey and for digital, sustainable battery value chains as a whole. It will help companies developing battery passports to shape these efficiently and in accordance with EU law. It may also be a sound foundation for the evolution of digital product passports in general which will be rolled out in other sectors in the future. Not least, it is a prime example of a multi-stakeholder contribution to the European agenda of the “twin transition” to a more sustainable and digital economy.”

In a bid to provide transparency and support for the industry and the wider battery passport ecosystem, the Content Guidance:

- aggregates, interprets and assesses the content requirements mandated by the EU Battery Regulation. This includes highlighting unclarities and inconsistencies of the legal text and scope as well as ensuring a reasonable balancing of sustainability objectives with industry feasibility;

- explores further key regulatory frameworks such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, to highlight harmonisation potentials with other legislations; and

- suggests additional value-adding aspects beyond the mandatory regulatory scope to enable increased sustainability and circularity.

The Content Guidance is complemented by two further documents: a compact and user- friendly Battery Passport Data Longlist comprising the ~90 mandatory data attributes outlined in the EU Battery Regulation as well as voluntary suggestions; and rules for calculating the carbon footprint of the “Distribution” and “End-of-life and recycling” life cycle stages of batteries. The latter was developed in collaboration with the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) to complement the already published GBA GHG Rulebook (version 1.4). The combination of both documents provides the first cradle-to-grave Product Carbon Footprint Rulebook designed for establishing a circular battery economy and is the basis for guiding companies to collect and aggregate company-specific product carbon footprint data that enable real-world emissions reduction (to be published in parallel by the GBA as version 1.5).

Sophie Herrmann, Partner, Systemiq GmbH and Programme Director, Battery Pass Consortium, said: “Digital battery passports can contribute to lowering the impacts of battery manufacturing such as GHG emissions, increase resource efficiency along the entire value chain, and better assure the upholding of human rights standards. They are a critical aspect of ensuring resilient supplies of critical raw materials for Europe’s mobility transition. This Content Guidance is intended as an asset for all participants of the digital passport ecosystem – from battery value chain actors to standard development organisations and other consortia and projects. Close collaboration with the latter, in particular the Global Battery Alliance, CIRPASS and Catena-X, has been very fruitful during the last year and the Battery Pass will continue to deepen these relationships in order to maximise harmonisation and synergy potentials.”

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weber, President, acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering, said: “acatech is excited to contribute to Battery Pass together with our long-standing partners. We want to shape digital product passports as part of the emerging European digital ecosystem. The Battery Pass complements further acatech activities such as Gaia-X or the Mobility Data Space and is a building block for implementing a data economy. Trusted information sharing in the battery value chain, as elaborated in this Content Guidance, is a cornerstone for a circular economy: It brings together the twin transformations of sustainability and digitalization.”

Over the course of 2023, the Battery Pass project will explore how to further evolve the Content Guidance in collaboration with other stakeholders. Meanwhile it will focus on shaping the first technical reference framework in accordance with EU requirements. This will allow any economic operator and other battery passport frameworks to develop compliant and interoperable passports.

The Battery Passport Content Guidance is available at: https://thebatterypass.eu/

Picture (from left to right): Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weber, President, acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering, Sophie Herrmann, Partner, Systemiq GmbH and Programme Director, Battery Pass Consortium, Michael Kellner, The Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action BMWK.