Gaia

The Battery Passports Info Sheet defines a battery passport as a digital twin of a physical battery, storing information including the battery’s label, manufacturing history and origin of its materials, battery chemistry, state of health, use history, safe handling and end-of-life (EoL) management. The battery passport is a means to support end-to-end traceability, and provides crucial information for decision-making on repair, reuse, repurposing and recyclability of the battery. A robust and widely accessible battery passport helps provide information critical to removing important barriers to repair, reuse, repurposing, recycling and end-of-life of EV batteries. A wide range of initiatives currently underway at sub-national, national and international levels are summarized in this Info Sheet, along with five key considerations for a fair and equitable battery passport and its relationship to environmental justice. 

The right to repair infosheet highlights that EV batteries risk having an artificially limited life in the vehicle given significant barriers to repair. Repair of EV batteries is very challenging requiring additional training or specialized service centers, prohibitively costly meaning consumers or insurers opt to scrap rather than repair the battery, and sometimes impossible due to proprietary technology or battery construction. While there are some developing policies on consumer right to repair, much more robust and effective laws are needed to ensure consumer right to repair of EV batteries to counter premature obsolescence and automakers monopolizing repair services. Such a right to repair includes: (i) providing universal and fair access to diagnostic information, tools and repair manuals; (ii) removing firmware, software and hardware barriers preventing consumer repair; (iii) following standard design criteria for core components, and (iv) ensuring fair access to and availability of spare parts.

The right to repair infosheet highlights that EV batteries risk having an artificially limited life in the vehicle given significant barriers to repair. Repair of EV batteries is very challenging requiring additional training or specialized service centers, prohibitively costly meaning consumers or insurers opt to scrap rather than repair the battery, and sometimes impossible due to proprietary technology or battery construction. While there are some developing policies on consumer right to repair, much more robust and effective laws are needed to ensure consumer right to repair of EV batteries to counter premature obsolescence and automakers monopolizing repair services. Such a right to repair includes: (i) providing universal and fair access to diagnostic information, tools and repair manuals; (ii) removing firmware, software and hardware barriers preventing consumer repair; (iii) following standard design criteria for core components, and (iv) ensuring fair access to and availability of spare parts.

The EV battery Disassembly infosheet exposes the complex and often destructive process with proprietary tools required to disassemble a typical EV battery with cell-pack-module construction for repair, reuse, repurposing or material recovery. A host of recommendations are outlined ranging from streamlining access to the battery pack and modules with linear design and standardized components, reducing toxic substances for worker safety, universal access to technical manuals and proprietary tools, industry standards for battery refurbishment, and simplifying battery construction for disassembly.

While most attention on EV batteries concerns minerals such as their cobalt, nickel and lithium content, the battery basics infosheet highlights that these materials make up less than half of a typical 1,000 lb battery, meaning that any discussion of material recovery must look at the fate of all 1,000 lbs, and not only those materials that form the economic incentive for recycling. Moreover, the binders or glues critical to EV battery functionality and used throughout the battery structure are manufactured with Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals.” These binders pose dangerous risks to human and environmental health that must be considered in battery end-of-life, and fire-safe design alternatives must be prioritized. 

La “economía circular del plástico” ha sido difundida como un modelo que busca imitar los ciclos de la naturaleza; disminuir o eliminar la extracción de recursos naturales y evitar los desechos y la contaminación en su ciclo de producción y uso. Sin embargo, en nuestra región ha sido utilizada para avalar prácticas y tecnologías de gestión de residuos que impactan seriamente la salud de las poblaciones y del ambiente.

Por lo anterior, desde nuestras organizaciones que pertenecen a la región de Latinoamericana y el Caribe y a la red de GAIA, BFFP, y IPEN vemos con preocupación que el término de economía circular pueda ser usado en el texto del Tratado Global de Plásticos para promover el uso de tecnologías de fin de tubería o falsas soluciones, y así deshacerse de los desechos plásticos con el argumento de ser procesos circulares, amigables con el medio ambiente e inocuos.

Esta guía forma parte de un kit de herramientas diseñado para orientar a los actores del turismo, como tour operadores, alojamientos, restaurantes, hoteles, guías de turismo y la comunidad en general, hacia hábitos de Basura Cero. Su objetivo es facilitar la adopción de prácticas regenerativas y fomentar cambios significativos para reducir los residuos. La guía ofrece diversas herramientas estratégicas, desde métodos de gestión de residuos hasta consejos para sensibilizar a clientes y la comunidad local. Incluye pasos específicos para implementar la gestión de Basura Cero en operaciones turísticas, la fabricación sostenible de baños secos, y prácticas para guías y visitantes en zonas remotas.

Además, proporciona recursos adicionales disponibles a través de un código QR o directamente en en linktr.ee/fundacionlenga

Este 22 de mayo, en el Día Internacional de la Diversidad Biológica, las organizaciones de América Latina y el Caribe de GAIA vemos la ocasión para reflexionar y celebrar vivir en una de las regiones más biodiversas del planeta. Somos territorios ricos en bosques, mares, lagos, selvas, ríos, suelos fértiles, humedales, que albergan cientos de miles de seres vivos que nos permiten acceder a alimentos y agua dulce, esenciales para nuestra calidad de vida y que hoy son parte de la emergencia climática y de la pérdida de biodiversidad en la región que afectan al planeta.

Este año se celebra el Día de la Diversidad Biológica paralelamente con el período de negociaciones del Tratado Global de Plásticos, y es por esta razón que queremos hacer especial referencia a la contaminación por plásticos, por ser una clara amenaza a nuestra biodiversidad, suelos y agua de superficie y a la vida humana.

Textile waste poses significant environmental, economic and social challenges for Africa. Some of these impacts include: large amounts of textile waste in Africa’s landfills, and burning of textile waste causing air pollution and the release of toxic substances. Communities near landfills and waste disposal sites face health risks from contaminated water and air. Check out our Google Map on Textile Waste in Africa comprising of: textile waste legislation in Africa, second-hand textiles arrival points, hotspots where textiles end up in Africa and textile markets.

Map Key:
[Bin]: Landfills, dump sites, and textile waste hotspots.
[Shopping bag]: African markets flooded with imported second-hand textiles.
[Law hammer]: Legislation across African nations governing second-hand textile imports.
[Ship]: Ports inundated with shipments of second-hand textiles.

Got intel to share or a spot to pinpoint? Reach out to Andrea Dixon, our Africa Programs Associate (andi@no-burn.org).

GAIA’s February 2024 Electric Vehicle (EV) Battery Repair, Reuse and Repurpose Teach-In helped GAIA members and partnering organizations learn more about the EV battery supply chain, how they are recycled, and why design for repair, reuse, and repurpose is so important. This publication compiles the key takeaways for each panel.