On January 24, "the implementation of the EU Batteries and Waste Batteries Regulation will increase the cost and difficulty for Chinese batteries to enter the EU market, dealing a huge blow to Sichuan's battery industry chain," said Yang Weiqing, a member of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a member of the Jiusan Society, and dean of the Frontier Science Research Institute at Southwest Jiaotong University, in Chengdu on the evening of January 23. He suggested that Sichuan take the initiative to fully advance data work related to the "battery passport," while guiding enterprises to take a rational view of the opportunities and challenges brought by the EU Batteries and Waste Batteries Regulation.

On the evening of the 23rd, the news media jointly interviewed the Sichuan provincial committees of various democratic parties, the Sichuan Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation in Chengdu. Photo by reporter An Yuan

　　The Second Session of the 13th Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is being held in Chengdu. On the evening of the 23rd, the news media jointly interviewed the Sichuan provincial committees of various democratic parties, the Sichuan Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation. Yang Weiqing shared the collective proposal brought by the Jiusan Society Sichuan Provincial Committee to this year's Sichuan Two Sessions, titled "Recommendations on Building a 'Battery Passport' to Strengthen the Green Foundation of Our Province's Battery Industry."

　　It is understood that on August 17, 2023, the EU Batteries and Waste Batteries Regulation officially took effect, setting requirements for waste battery recycling rates, the use of recycled materials, carbon footprint, and other aspects. It stipulates that power batteries and industrial batteries with a capacity of more than 2 kWh on the EU market must, starting in 2026, have a "battery passport" capable of recording multiple items of information, including battery information, raw material information, ESG assessments, and supply chain data. Europe is the main export market for Chinese battery products, and Sichuan is a major lithium battery province in China.

　　Yang Weiqing said that currently China's green electricity trading covers only photovoltaic and wind power generation, and hydropower has not yet been included at the operational level. With the implementation of the EU Batteries and Waste Batteries Regulation, the process of including China's hydropower as "green" will inevitably accelerate. Sichuan should continue to actively seek support at higher levels to be included in the national pilot for hydropower green trading and incorporate hydropower into the scope of green electricity trading and green certificate trading.

　　Yang Weiqing said that given the enormous workload of improving "battery passport" data, Sichuan should strengthen the leading role of computing power, establish a Sichuan battery carbon management blockchain digital platform, and achieve end-to-end full-process monitoring and comprehensive industrial management services across the industry chain; combine carbon methodology to track and manage carbon emissions, achieve traceability of the industry chain and carbon emissions, and make every effort to provide services for aligning with EU carbon footprint data management.

　　In Yang Weiqing's view, the EU Batteries and Waste Batteries Regulation will bring a series of new challenges in the short term, but it will also accelerate the transformation of Sichuan battery enterprises toward low-carbon and zero-carbon production methods, push power battery recycling technologies, mechanisms, and data statistics systems further forward, and make the supply chain more open and transparent. Sichuan should strengthen control at the provincial level over areas such as battery raw material processing, key battery materials, battery production, and battery recycling, connect the upstream and downstream of the industry chain, and avoid blind introduction and blind production that could lead to overcapacity and reduced efficiency.