Abstract:

Resources such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, aluminium, tin, manganese and copper are used, for instance, to produce lithium-ion batteries that power electric mobility. The extraction of these resources brings with it a number of social and environmental risks. After batteries have been used in vehicles, the question of the ‘second-life applications’ of batteries arises. They need to be recycled or disposed of in an environmentally acceptable manner. To reduce the resource intensity, and channel important secondary resources back into production, the entire life cycle must in future be accorded greater attention from design to use, collection and disposal. This publication explains what natural resources are used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries, and in which countries under which conditions they are produced and processed. It also looks at the opportunities and risks posed by the robust growth in electric mobility to the extractive sector in developing countries and emerging economies.