Powering the Future 2025

to higher-skilled, higher-paying jobs. Raw material extraction markets, and their workforce, must be enabled to benefit from a circular battery economy in a way that has not occurred in the current battery value chain – namely, capturing the returns of their labour and the value of their natural resources within their economies. This pattern can change with an equitable approach to developing a circular economy – one that includes more countries in more segments of the value chain, as discussed in Section 3.4, and that consistently evaluates who benefits from, and who bears the cost of, change. In addition to the socio-economic opportunities associated with workforce development and transition, there is also an opportunity to reduce and integrate informal sectors of the EVB value chain, which are defined by the International Monetary Fund as economic activities that have market value but are not formally registered131 and do not generate tax revenue.132 For example, the Indian government estimates that 20% of LIBs in the country are recycled by informal recyclers and highlights the need to prevent the growth of informal battery recycling.133 Transitioning to a circular economy creates opportunities for formalizing these markets, which enables upward economic growth for workers, offering a chance for them to earn higher wages134 and experience better working conditions.135 What levers can be used to facilitate this change? Advance public-private partnerships for reskilling and job placement. It will be essential for governments and industry stakeholders to work together to make reskilling programmes accessible and to develop job placement programmes that help workers transition smoothly into other segments of the value chain. This will be critical for raw material extraction markets, where workers will need to shift out of the mining sector without losing their source of income. It will also be important in markets where significant workforce development is needed to fill roles in a circular battery economy. Examples of public-private partnership for reskilling for the circular economy can be found in other sectors, such as the electronics scrap and remanufacturing industries. For example, the REMADE Institute was awarded $380,000 by the US Department of Energy to create bilingual online training programmes for the e-scrap and remanufacturing industries. The training is targeted towards jobs that do not require four- year degrees and allows entry-level employees to progress to mid-level roles while reducing onboarding costs for employers.136 Examples of public-private partnership for reskilling and job placement can also be drawn from the transition from fossil-fuel energy to clean energy that is already underway. Other lessons to be learned from the transition of fossil fuel workers to the clean energy sector include what needs exist, what has worked well, and what challenges have emerged. According to a statistical analysis conducted using occupational- skill profiles from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, many fossil fuel industry workers already have many of the skills required to take on jobs in the clean energy sector,137 which means job placement programmes that help recruit workers and match them to appropriate roles are as important as reskilling programmes. A potential challenge to job placement is that workers in need of transition will often not be in the geography where new jobs are created even if they possess the skills required for the new jobs, as has been seen with the clean energy transition.138 Proactive measures must be taken to ensure new jobs in the circular battery economy are in the same geography as where workforce transition is required from raw material extraction and refining roles. The creation of regional value chains, as discussed in Section 3.4, can help prevent this challenge by reducing the concentration of the EVB value chain and creating a more dispersed circular battery economy. In addition to ensuring workers are matched to suitable jobs, it is important to plan for continued, long-term employment. It has been found that clean energy jobs often last only through the construction phase.139 Similarly, due to high labour intensity and low efficiency of raw mineral extraction, recycling usually requires fewer workers.140 According to an analysis by RMI, recycling is more labour-efficient on a combined basis when considering that the same unit of labour produces lithium, nickel and cobalt simultaneously, with a labour-to-output ratio of 0.02-0.03 workers per tonne. Mining, on the other hand, is less labour-efficient overall, with a labour-to-output ratio of 0.14-0.32 workers per tonne, since different mining processes must be run for each metal. To prevent employment loss due to a new circular EVB industry and ensure sustainable, stable employment, public-private partnerships for workforce development must take a long-term view and plan for multiple phases of the circular battery economy transition. Develop curricula and training programmes with standardized certification, through a collaboration of industry and educational institutions. Developing curricula and training programmes requires a collaborative effort between industry players and educational institutions. This includes education at every level, from elementary to graduate school: early introduction to EVBs and circular economy can plant interest to pursue careers in the field later in life, whereas programmes for older students can provide direct training to existing workers and new workers entering the workforce.141 While universities can help fill the need for certain roles like engineers, institutes for technical and vocational education and training as Powering the Future: Overcoming Battery Supply Chain Challenges with Circularity 33