In this article, CATL outlines how it is advancing battery circularity in China through national recycling standards, closed-loop innovation and global partnerships.
China’s fast-growing new energy vehicle (NEV) industry is approaching a pivotal stage – the large-scale retirement of power batteries. Managing this transition responsibly has become a key challenge for the industry.
To guide this transition, on 20 October 2025, China introduced 22 national standards governing power battery recycling – from disassembly and residual energy testing to material regeneration and waste lithium-ion management.
As a leading player in this field, CATL’s subsidiary BRUNP Recycling has played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s recycling landscape. To date, BRUNP has led or participated in the formulation of more than 80% of China’s lithium battery recycling standards, including all national standards for power battery recycling, and has been recognised as an industry benchmark by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation.
This leadership has helped the industry move from fragmented and unregulated recycling to a standardised, large-scale and technologically advanced ecosystem.
Setting global benchmarks
At the technological core of CATL’s recycling ecosystem lies BRUNP Recycling. Through its proprietary Directional Recycling Technology (DRT), BRUNP has advanced in material recovery, achieving 99.6% for nickel, cobalt and manganese and 96.5% for lithium. In 2024, the company processed more than 120,000 tons of end-of-life batteries and produced 17,100 tons of regenerated lithium salts.
Over the past decade, BRUNP’s revenue has grown exponentially, reflecting both rapid industrial expansion and rising influence across the value chain. The company has led or participated in developing over 80% of China’s lithium battery recycling standards, including all national standards for EV battery recycling. To date, its work has informed 445 industry standards, of which 126 are national. It also supports 18 national technical committees focused on battery recycling, spanning metals, chemicals, automotive, and logistics.
As the first company worldwide to pioneer and publicly share the DRT framework, BRUNP has transformed proprietary innovation into shared industry standards, helping to accelerate the sector’s green and low-carbon transition. Today, BRUNP operates a fully closed-loop ecosystem encompassing battery production, usage, second-life applications, recycling and resource regeneration. This system provides a stable supply of low-carbon raw materials and underpins the sustainable growth of China’s new energy industry.
Driving the circular transition
CATL views circularity not as an end-of-pipe solution, but as a systemic redesign of how batteries are produced, used and recovered. At London Climate Action Week 2025, CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) articulated a shared ambition: To decouple new battery production from the consumption of virgin raw materials. CATL has set a directional goal that within 20 years, 50% of new battery production could be achieved without virgin materials. To guide this transformation, CATL applies four operational principles, adapted from the EMF circular economy framework, designed to drive measurable change across the battery value chain: Rethink Systems, Redesign Products, Rethink Business Models and Recycle Materials.
These principles are already being translated into action across CATL’s global operations:
- System level: CATL launched its Carbon Chain Management System to help decarbonise the battery value chain.
- Product design: CATL has extended battery lifespan significantly – its energy storage batteries now reach up to 18,000 cycles – reducing both materials demand and emissions.
- Business model: CATL also plans to deploy more than 10,000 battery swap stations, improving battery efficiency and facilitating the large-scale collection of retired batteries.
- Recycling: CATL operates the world’s largest battery take-back network and, in 2024 alone, recycled around 120,000 tons of end-of-life batteries, recovering 17,000 tons of lithium salts.
Advancing circular solutions
Since forming a strategic partnership in early 2025, CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) have been working to operationalise circular economy principles across the battery value chain. This partnership serves as a guiding light for the industry – enabling alignment among manufacturers, recyclers, policy-makers and material suppliers to accelerate collective progress toward a circular battery economy. Through joint research, pilot projects, and knowledge-sharing, CATL and EMF are helping to establish scalable pathways for reducing dependence on virgin materials and achieving long-term resource security.
Building on this, CATL collaborates with key industry partners to translate circular principles into concrete solutions.
- CATL and BASF are co-developing innovative and sustainable cathode active materials on a global scale. The two companies have been strategic partners since 2021, working on battery materials solutions – including cathode active materials and battery recycling – with the shared goal of developing a sustainable battery value chain.
- In its partnership with Volvo, CATL uses recycled critical materials from retired Volvo batteries to produce new batteries for Volvo’s electric vehicles. The two companies have also established a transparent and collaborative management mechanism to ensure the process meets stringent quality standards and complies with regulatory requirements worldwide.
Transparent and accountable supply chain
Beyond physical recycling, CATL is advancing digital traceability and ESG accountability across its global operations. Through its CREDIT supplier audit system, CATL embeds accountability and transparency across its supply chain, enhancing ESG awareness and reducing carbon footprint across the value chain
Additionally, CATL is committed to advancing the Global Battery Alliance (GBA)’s Battery Passport pilot to build a standardised supply chain traceability system, while helping to bridge regulatory gaps and contributing to a more sustainable battery ecosystem.
