Digitalization - A Driver for Circular Economy Solutions

One of the main agendas of the European Green Deal (March 2020) is a circular economy action plan (CEAP). It introduces legislative and non-legislative measures along the entire life cycle of products to reduce the pressure on natural resources, encourage sustainable consumption and to ensure that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. The circular economy perspective for the battery sector in particular has great potential to combine socio-economic and economic effects by increasing resource productivity and safely reusing materials at the end of their service life. However, digitalization or extensive use of digital technologies and processes is necessary to enable an information-driven circular economy. Battery-specific circular economy measures includes end-of-life tracking, automated dismantling, remanufacturing and recycling, thus promoting a cost-effective, higher-quality product and material (re)use. Comprehensive digitalization can help to generate business model-relevant data about the life cycle of the batteries and share it between relevant actors to maximize corporate and societal benefits. Moreover, information-driven circular economy implementation results in increased transparency in product tracking and connectivity of downstream value creation paths.