Environmental groups criticize Germany and other EU countries' delaying tactics in more sustainable battery production

Berlin, December 9th, 2021 : In a broad alliance of 40 European environmental protection and human rights organizations, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), Germanwatch and PowerShift are calling for the planned EU battery regulation to be implemented quickly in an open letter. The background to this is the attempt by the European Council to delay the entry into force of specifications for more sustainable production and design of batteries by several years. From the point of view of DUH, Germanwatch and PowerShift, the regulation must come into force as planned and key points must be improved. The three associations are calling on the new Federal Environment Minister, Steffi Lemke, to advocate more recycling, easy-to-replace batteries and responsible extraction of raw materials in the negotiations on the EU Battery Ordinance.