Operationalizing the environmental safe operating space into target distributions for mobility and batteries.

Area of Science:

• Earth System Science
• Environmental Science
• Sustainable Development

Background:

• The concept of a safe operating space (SOS) aims to protect Earth system resilience from human activities.
• Translating broad SOS principles into specific, actionable targets for sectors like mobility and energy storage remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a methodology for deriving SOS-based targets for mobility and electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
• To demonstrate how downscaling assumptions and parameters influence these derived targets.

Main Methods:

• Development of a methodology to calculate climate impact (CO2-eq/kWh) and freshwater use (m3/kWh) targets.
• Application of the methodology to mobility and EV batteries in Germany and Canada for future years (2030, 2035, 2050).
• Analysis of target sensitivity to variations in location and battery sizes.

Main Results:

• Derived target ranges for climate impact: 1–47 kg CO2-eq/kWh in 2030, shrinking to 0.4–12 kg CO2-eq/kWh by 2050.
• Derived target ranges for freshwater use: 0.1–2.0 m3/kWh in 2030, reducing to 0.1–1.1 m3/kWh by 2050.
• Significant variation in targets based on geographical location and battery characteristics.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a framework for operationalizing SOS-based pathways in the mobility sector.
• Challenges in deriving robust sustainability targets are highlighted, alongside comparisons to existing regulatory and corporate targets.
• The findings underscore the importance of considering specific parameters in setting effective environmental targets for EV batteries and mobility.