Powering the Future 2025

Title of box one goes here, try to keep less than 85 characters in lengthOverview To understand the true return on investment of EVB recycling, RMI used a triple-bottom-line accounting approach: one that assesses financial, environmental and social performance. The assessment assigned a monetary value to the impacts of EVB recycling, using three metrics:  –Financial metrics, including profit pools from a typical recycling facility that uses hydrometallurgical processing and performs both shredding and refining.  –Environmental metrics, measured through reductions in emissions, land use and water use.  –Social metrics, measured using the income from the average number of jobs created per ton of recycling capacity and the resulting economic growth. The results The assessment found that EV battery recycling has a net positive impact on society even when metal prices are low.   The analysis showed that with triple-bottom-line accounting, the social and environmental benefits of recycling can be worth as much as $164 more per ton of lithium carbonate equivalent than direct lithium extraction (DLE) and as much as $700 more per ton than conventional mining. (DLE is a process that extracts lithium from brine and is less emissions- intensive than mining.) These social and environmental benefits, combined with recycling profit pools, can collectively create a net present value of $5.9 billion to $14.4 billion of global benefits by 2040. This estimate is based solely on US feedstock volumes and would increase substantially using global volumes. Today, mined minerals have much higher profit margins than recycled minerals, but when currently unaccounted-for environmental and social externalities are factored in, the return on investment of EVB recycling can be far greater than that of mining.  Using levers such as policy and innovative finance mechanisms, these externalities can be accounted for and used to strengthen the business case for EVB recycling, even in the face of low mineral prices and an unpredictable market. Investors and policy-makers have an assortment of tools available to demonstrate the true value of recycling, even in the face of a fluctuating market. A comprehensive analysis and set of recommendations for investors and policy-makers are available from RMI.106 Used wisely, these tools can reduce uncertainty, unlock further investment and fully realize recycling’s potential financial, environmental and social benefits. The holistic value of recycling -2.2 - 5.10.2 - 0.31.0 - 1.40.7 ProfitsSystem-level benefits of recycling through 2040 Monetized benefits, $ billion Land use reductionWater use reductionCarbon abatementJobs Economic activityTotal3.0 - 3.33.2 - 3.6 5.9 - 14.4 Source: RMI105CASE STUDY 1 Triple-bottom-line accounting for EVB recycling Powering the Future: Overcoming Battery Supply Chain Challenges with Circularity 27