Chinese battery maker CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation addressed the circular economy at the IAA 2025 automotive conference.
It marked the first formal gathering of partners under the foundation’s critical minerals programme, launched in June, with speakers from BASF, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
CATL emphasised that circularity is a central theme for the industry, highlighting the need for closed loops across battery design, manufacturing, reuse, second-life applications, and recycling.
Discussions included how circularity can be embedded from the earliest stages of battery development, particularly in design and manufacturing.
Panellists explored the role of digital traceability, material transparency, and collaborative industrial practices in enabling circular systems.
They underscored the need for collaboration across every stage of the value chain to ensure scalability and practical implementation.
Jiang Li, vice president and board secretary, CATL, said, “To make circularity real at scale, the industry needs clear standards and aligned policy and financial frameworks. With more partners joining us, we are working together to build an ecosystem that makes batteries more resilient, secure, and sustainable for the decades ahead.”
The second discussion involved policy and finance and how those would be needed to scale circularity. The company cited the battery passport to create transparent and comparable metrics across jurisdictions.
Emma Nerenheim, managing director, European Battery Alliance, said, “We’re talking so much about collaboration now. I want to say that the word is consolidation. It’s not collaboration. It is that we have to decide that we need to do this. It’s incredibly difficult to understand how this question is going to work out – so consolidate now.”
CATL said it will continue working with the foundation and industry partners on pilot projects and full value chain solutions for a circular battery ecosystem.
Image: The panel speaking at the IAA 2025 conference. Credit: CATL.
