Think 20 pushes issue of battery waste for global discussion

Jakarta, May 31 (ANTARA) - Think 20 (T20) Presidency, as the global idea center for G20 leaders, pushes the issue of electric vehicle battery waste to become a global discussion that aligns with the energy transition program. The G20 is an international forum comprising 19 countries that work together to handle major issues. Indonesia is holding the presidency of the grouping this year. During a public discussion here on Monday, Lead Co-chair of Think 20's Task Force 3 Moekti Soejachmoen noted that energy transition with electrification of the transportation sector had become a collective goal. Thus, the issue of battery waste should be brought into the G20. He expects that the discussion at the G20 forum will not only limit itself to battery waste but also on how G20 countries can make electric vehicle battery waste become part of the circular economy. This is important given that the demand for electric vehicles will be huge in the future. According to Soejachmoen, countries within the G20 forum can make battery waste become part of the circular economy. With this, it would prevent the world from freely extracting and exploiting natural resources or precious minerals, such as nickel and rare earth metal. "We will approach it like this, and we may also be going to create a discussion session," he remarked. Earlier, the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry officially announced the establishment of the Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) in March 2021. This corporation was established to manage the integrated battery industry from upstream to downstream in Indonesia. Indonesia aims to have the electric vehicle battery production figure to reach 600 thousand units for cars and 2.45 million units for motorcycles by 2030. This battery production target is set to keep up with the number of electric vehicles that is estimated to reach two million car units and 13 million motorcycle units within nine years.