DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 24, 2026/ PRNewswire/– Leading The Charge– Turning threat into benefit with a circular economy for EV batteries and vital minerals, a whitepaper launched by the Ellen MacArthur Structure throughout the World Economic Online Forum Yearly Fulfilling 2026, marks the very first incorporated, actionable circular value-chain roadmap for EV batteries grounded in real-world commercial practice. It likewise sets a landmark turning point in the cooperation in between CATL and the Structure.
Established with input from over 30 leading companies throughout the EV battery community– consisting of CATL, DHL, Volvo, and JLR, together with research study organizations and NGOs– the report sets out a clear, industry-informed instructions for how EV batteries need to be developed, utilized, recuperated, and reintegrated to increase worth and minimize systemic threat throughout the worth chain.
As the starting tactical partner of The Structure’s Vital Minerals Objective, CATL worked carefully with The Structure and market peers to equate circular economy concepts into useful, deployable actions grounded in genuine operating experience. The roadmap likewise supports CATL’s Global Energy Circularity Dedication, including its long-lasting objective to decouple battery development from virgin basic material extraction.
It highlights the chances a circular EV battery system can open throughout environment, economy, item, and more comprehensive worth production. By keeping batteries and their vital minerals in usage throughout numerous lifecycles, it decreases need for freshly mined products, decreases emissions, and supports renewable resource combination. It likewise increases financial worth by enhancing product effectiveness, reducing waste and functional expenses, and developing brand-new profits streams. At the exact same time, it reinforces supply chain durability and disperses financial advantages more equitably throughout areas, revealing that a systemic, circular method changes possible dangers into tactical, value-generating chances.
5 intense areas to open a circular EV battery system
The whitepaper determines 5 synergistic actions required to keep battery products in high-value usage and enhance system durability:
- Style batteries for circularity, not disposal
- Reconsider battery service within enhanced energy– movement systems
- Scale circular service designs that deal with batteries as long-lasting possessions
- Construct and co-invest in local circular facilities
- Make it possible for a circular os through information, requirements, and policy
CATL actions currently in practice
CATL is currently putting these system-level actions into practice throughout its operations. By separating the battery from the automobile, CATL handles batteries as centrally handled possessions, increasing usage, making it possible for set up upkeep, and making sure foreseeable return at end of usage. Today, CATL runs more than 1,000 passenger-vehicle and over 300 commercial-vehicle swap stations, supported by a growing community of more than 100 partners.
This system combination makes it possible for premium healing at scale. CATL’s recycling operations attain healing rates of 99.6% for nickel, cobalt, and manganese, and 96.5% for lithium, with processing capability broadening towards 270,000 tonnes each year. In parallel, CATL is using alternative chemistries such as sodium-ion batteries, utilizing commonly offered products and minimizing lifecycle carbon emissions per kilowatt-hour by approximately 60%, enhancing circular efficiency throughout movement, switching, and energy storage applications.
Scaling together
Speaking at The Structure’s Management Instruction amongst CATL Jiang Li, Vice-Chairman and Board Secretary of CATL highlighted: “This report marks a significant turning point in the international journey towards a circular battery economy. Circular battery systems need to now be scaled throughout areas, markets, and applications– from EVs to energy storage– and adjusted to varied market contexts.”
” As EV adoption speeds up, a circular economy for batteries and vital minerals is no longer optional– it is necessary to price, durability, and long-lasting development while minimizing ecological and social effects,” stated Wen-Yu Weng, Executive Leader for Vital Minerals at the Ellen MacArthur Structure. “EV batteries are tactical possessions, and circular methods are essential to keeping their worth and making sure vital minerals never ever end up being waste. We invite CATL’s contribution and anticipate continued partnership to assist scale a really circular battery system and support the larger energy shift.”
For CATL, this program straight underpins its path to carbon neutrality– structure on the accomplishment of carbon neutrality throughout all its battery plants, and its target to attain carbon neutrality throughout the amount chain by 2035.
The launch of the report marks an early turning point in CATL and The Structure’s more comprehensive partnership to speed up circularity of vital minerals. The next stage will concentrate on stress-testing these methods in real-world environments, to comprehend how style, usage, life extension, collection, and recycling loops work together at scale.
SOURCE Contemporary Amperex Innovation Co., Limited (CATL)