EU keeps battery recycling targets unchanged as treatment capacity moves into focus

What did the Commission decide on 11 September?

Article 71 of the EU Batteries Regulation required the Commission to assess whether market development, raw-material availability and technical progress justified revising the targets. Its new report says they do not. The Commission therefore sees no basis for a delegated act changing Parts B and C of Annex XII, and the next mandatory review is due by 18 August 2031 at the latest.

This is a decision to preserve the existing timetable, not a pause in implementation. Recycling efficiency for lithium-based batteries remains 65% by average weight for 2025 and 70% for 2030. Material recovery remains 50% for lithium and 90% for cobalt, copper, lead and nickel in 2027, rising in 2031 to 80% for lithium and 95% for the other four metals.

• 2025: 65% recycling efficiency for lithium-based batteries
• 2027: 50% lithium recovery and 90% for cobalt, copper, lead and nickel
• 2030: 70% recycling efficiency for lithium-based batteries
• 2031: 80% lithium recovery and 95% for cobalt, copper, lead and nickel
• By 18 August 2031: next Commission review at the latest

Why did the percentages stay where they are?

The report acknowledges industry pressure. Stakeholders said lithium-based batteries vary sharply by chemistry, format and recoverable value, and some considered the 2030 efficiency target difficult for particular streams. Very few recyclers reported being able to recover lithium at the end of 2025, while some respondents said the jump from 50% lithium recovery in 2027 to 80% in 2031 may be steep. The 95% targets for nickel and cobalt were also described as close to the technical limit for large continuous processes.

Even so, the Commission judged that neither raising nor lowering the targets would materially improve the total supply picture. Its modelling found that a ten-percentage-point change in lithium recovery would shift the share of EU lithium demand met by domestic primary and secondary supply by about two percentage points in 2027 and three points in 2035. The report therefore identifies treatment capacity—not the efficiency of an individual plant—as the larger bottleneck.

Why does this matter beyond recycling plants?

Stable targets reduce one source of regulatory uncertainty for recyclers and battery producers, but they also preserve the investment deadline. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 temporarily allows certain fractions to be excluded from recycling-efficiency calculations through 2029. From 2030, graphite, iron and phosphorus must be included, increasing the commercial value of processes that can recover a wider set of materials rather than only the highest-value metals.

For power-bank and portable-electronics supply chains, this report does not create a new product certificate or change the separate battery-passport, labelling and producer-responsibility duties. Its significance is upstream and downstream: manufacturers need better battery composition and end-of-life data, while recyclers need dependable feedstock, scalable plants and verifiable mass-balance records. ZIMONAI’s editorial reading is that buyers should expect recycling capability to become a data-and-capacity question, not merely a sustainability claim printed in a supplier deck.