Carbon Footprint: What to Enter

The EU Battery Regulation requires every in-scope battery passport to declare the battery's lifecycle carbon footprint in kg CO₂e per kWh. This article explains what to enter, where the data comes from, and how the performance class works.

What the regulation requires

Article 7 of the Battery Regulation requires a carbon footprint declaration for EV batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh. The declaration must cover the full lifecycle: raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, and end-of-life processing.

The value is expressed as kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per kilowatt-hour (kg CO₂e/kWh) of the battery's rated energy.

Where the data comes from

The carbon footprint value must be derived from a lifecycle assessment (LCA) conducted in accordance with the methodology defined by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). The JRC methodology specifies:

• System boundaries (what to include in the calculation).
• Data sources (primary data from your production vs secondary data from databases).
• Allocation rules (how shared processes are attributed).
• Impact assessment method (the CO₂e conversion factors).

In practice, most manufacturers commission a third-party LCA provider (such as TÜV, SGS, Bureau Veritas, or a specialist sustainability consultancy) to conduct the assessment and produce the certified figure.

What to enter in DPP Cloud

In the passport creation wizard, the Sustainability accordion section contains three carbon footprint fields:

1. Carbon footprint (kg CO₂e/kWh) — Enter the total lifecycle figure from your LCA. This is a numeric value, typically between 30 and 200 depending on the battery chemistry and manufacturing process. Required.

1. Carbon footprint performance class — A letter grade from A (best) to E (worst), based on how your battery's carbon footprint compares to the EU-wide benchmark. The Commission has not yet published the benchmark values, so this field is currently optional. When benchmarks are published, DPP Cloud will update to make it required.

1. LCA methodology reference — A text field for the LCA standard or methodology used (e.g., "JRC Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules for Batteries, v1.0"). Optional but recommended.

Performance class

The carbon footprint performance class will rank batteries into classes A through E, similar to the energy efficiency labels used for appliances. The Commission will define the class boundaries by delegated act. Once published:

• Class A = significantly below the EU average carbon footprint.
• Class E = significantly above the EU average carbon footprint.

DPP Cloud will automatically calculate the performance class once the Commission publishes the benchmark values.