CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation have convened a high-level forum on battery circularity at IAA 2025 in Munich, bringing together BASF, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, the European Battery Alliance, the Global Battery Alliance, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Xynteo, and more than 100 cross-sector representatives.
The forum, which took place at one of the world’s largest automotive shows, highlighted the importance of circularity as a key theme for that industry, and reflected growing recognition that sustainable transport depends on ‘closing the loop’ across battery design, manufacturing, reuse, second-life applications, and recycling.
At the event, CATL shared insights from its Global Energy Circularity Commitment (GECC), sharing practical lessons from its operations and partnerships around the world.
Built for circularity
The first session, Built for Circularity: Design, Manufacture and Infrastructure for Batteries, looked at how circularity can be embedded in the earliest stages of battery development, as well as highlighting the importance of digital traceability, material transparency, and collaboration as enablers for a circular battery ecosystem.
Contributors included Daniel Schönfelder, president, Battery Materials at BASF; Jens Rubi, senior manager, head of circularity at Mercedes-Benz; and Oliver Ganser, VP of digitalisation at BMW.
“To make circularity real at scale, the industry needs clear standards and aligned policy and financial frameworks,” commented Jiang Li, vice president and board secretary at CATL. “With more partners joining us, we are working together to build an ecosystem that makes batteries more resilient, secure, and sustainable for the decades ahead.”
Scaling circular batteries
A second session, From Money to Mandates: Scaling Circular Batteries with Smart Policy and Finance, looked at regulatory alignment, investor confidence, financing mechanisms, and the need for standardised approaches to scaling circular batteries. Panelists discussed how tools such as the Battery Passport can create transparent and comparable metrics across jurisdictions, opening the door for large-scale implementation of circular practices.
“We need much more emphasis on creating a global level playing field and looking at the global battery ecosystem,” said Inga Petersen, executive director and board member of the Global Battery Alliance.
“There is a real risk of fragmentation, where high regulatory compliance burdens and high -standard products in certain markets could leave emerging markets struggling to meet sustainability and recycling requirements. We really need to create common minimum standards for batteries to ensure they meet sustainability metrics and can access capital.”
Other contributors included Emma Nerenheim, managing director of the European Battery Alliance; Zoe Zhang, critical minerals analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence; and Amy Marshall, managing director at Xynteo. Read more here.
