Greening the global battery chain? Critical reflections on the EU's 2023 battery regulations

Abstract

The European Union's new battery regulations represent an ambitious effort to regulate the full lifecycle of global battery production. However, questions have been raised about their ability to regulate the social and environmental performance of mining and battery manufacturers. This article provides a critical reflection on the new EU legislation, focusing primarily on the “upstream” end of extraction for global battery and electric vehicle production. We make three claims: first that the EU's battery regulations represent a partial “hardening” of transnational supply chain governance that allows companies to undertake their own due diligence by outsourcing reporting and verification obligations to third-party auditors; second that the regulations prioritize issues that reflect EU interests, as opposed to communities affected by the recent surge in demand for battery metals; and third, that the regulations are embedded in a wider economic and geopolitical conflict that tends to disfavour producer states.