On April 16, CATL and Volvo Cars signed a memorandum of understanding on a strategic partnership to deepen the cooperation in sustainable development.

According to the agreement, Volvo Cars will collect retired batteries and hand them to downstream suppliers certified by Volvo Cars for the recycling and extraction of metals including nickel, cobalt, and lithium. CATL will use these recycled materials to produce new batteries to power electric vehicles manufactured by Volvo Cars. The two parties will also establish an efficient, collaborative, and transparent management mechanism to ensure that the entire recycling and production process meets the quality requirements of both parties and complies with the legal and regulatory requirements of various regions worldwide. 

"Circular economy is an important part of the sustainable development strategy of Volvo Cars," said Harry Li, vice president in procurement & logistics of Volvo Car Asia Pacific. "We are committed to reaching net-zero emissions in our value chain by 2040, which requires the joint efforts of suppliers throughout the industry chain. The cooperation with CATL will further reduce the average carbon emission of an electric vehicle of Volvo Cars over the life cycle, improve the business model for EV battery recycling and reuse, thus setting a milestone demonstration example on the sustainable development of EV battery industry of China."

"CATL has always been committed to addressing core issues such as the safety, reliability, and sustainable development of green energy applications," said Libin Tan, co-president of CATL's sales and marketing system. "We have made a comprehensive approach to carbon reduction governance and announced a carbon neutrality plan which is of the largest scale in the global lithium-ion battery industry. The cooperation with Volvo Cars is an important milestone in building a closed-loop battery recycling business model in China, which marks a new chapter in the closed-loop management of battery recycling."

The agreement will take CATL and Volvo Cars to a new level in sustainable development. Both parties will work together to reduce the carbon emissions of electric vehicles throughout the life cycle and promote the rapid development of circular economy. In the future, CATL will continue to leverage its technological advantages to contribute to the development of circular battery value chain.