Climate, Energy and Environment Ministry announces used-battery pact

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said it would sign a two-year agreement with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to coordinate used-battery policy.

"This agreement will be an important milestone that removes barriers between the two ministries and lays the foundation for a sustainable future for Korea's battery industry," Moon Shin-hak, a vice minister at the industry ministry, said.

Used batteries are strategic resources rather than simply waste because they contain lithium, nickel and cobalt. They are essential to strengthening critical-mineral supply chains and national resource security. "With electric vehicle adoption expanding rapidly, establishing a circular-use system for used batteries is a key task for realizing a sustainable circular economy," Keum said.

A battery trading and traceability platform will link the ministries' separate systems. The climate ministry is developing systems for life-cycle greenhouse-gas assessments and recycling, while the industry ministry oversees distribution and reuse.

The ministries will harmonize production and use certification schemes for recycled raw materials, using the same eligibility criteria and allowing production-certification documents to support use certification. The aligned certification targets will cover seven materials: lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, cobalt sulfate, nickel sulfate, manganese sulfate, mixed-metal precipitate and cathode active material.

A used-battery management and industry-promotion law passed in April 2026 will bring a recycled-raw-material certification system into force from May 2027. The ministries also plan rules on the safe transport and storage of used batteries and improved oversight of recycling operators.

The ministries plan to preserve operations at a public collection and distribution centre so it can continue recovering and selling batteries installed in electric vehicles registered through Dec. 31, 2020 after the law takes effect.

They will also jointly plan and pursue research and development projects on reusing and recycling used batteries and making new batteries from them, including energy storage systems, recycled-material extraction and quality management. A working-level committee co-chaired by ministry officials will identify further areas for cooperation.