Webinar Recap: “Powering Europe’s Net-Zero Future: Graphite’s Role in Clean Energy Competitiveness and Innovation"

On 3 June 2025, the RESPECT project, in partnership with GR4FITE3, hosted the webinar “Powering Europe’s Net-Zero Future: Graphite’s Role in Clean Energy Competitiveness and Innovation”. 

The event took place as part of the EU Green Week 2025 (3–5 June), an annual event organised by the European Commission to spotlight EU environmental policy, progress toward climate neutrality, and the transition to a circular economy.

This year’s EU Green Week centred on delivering Europe’s Green Deal objectives, including the promotion of sustainable raw material supply chains essential for clean technologies. In this context, the RESPECT webinar brought critical attention to graphite, an essential material in the production of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, and its role in enabling a sustainable energy transition.

This engaging webinar included a panel discussion, which spotlighted graphite’s pivotal role as a critical raw material in Europe's clean energy transition. The discussions explored key challenges and opportunities across the graphite value chain, with a particular focus on supply chain resilience, market trends, innovative recycling technologies, and the regulatory landscape for Li-ion batteries. Speakers examined the graphite sector through the lenses of market volatility, environmental impact, and strategic autonomy — all in the context of Europe's ambitions for a circular, climate-neutral economy.

At the core of the discussion was the RESPECT project’s mission to advance circular battery value chains by developing state-of-the-art graphite recovery and reuse technologies. The webinar demonstrated how these innovations contribute to European sustainability goals while strengthening supply chain independence and industrial competitiveness.

The webinar opened with a market analysis by Veronika Sochorová (ECGA), who outlined current supply-demand trends, price volatility, and potential bottlenecks facing the graphite sector, all of which have implications for Europe's clean energy ambitions.

Robin Hansson (Vianode AS) followed with an overview of the RESPECT project, highlighting innovative recycling solutions for critical raw materials and their importance in reinforcing Europe’s circular economy and battery sustainability efforts.

The GR4FITE3 project segment, presented by Łukasz Kolanowski (IMN), Volodymyr Khomenko (KNUTD), and Jessie Briggs (Minviro), explored European regulations governing Li-ion batteries, compared the life cycle impacts of synthetic versus natural graphite, and showcased advancements in purification technologies aimed at enhancing the reuse of synthetic graphite.

A panel discussion, moderated by Rita Denisenko, brought together all the presenters and additional industry experts. Key topics included addressing market gaps, providing resilient graphite supply chains, accelerating innovation in recycling and mining, and aligning policy frameworks to support green industry development. Emphasis was also placed on workforce development and the digital transformation of critical materials management.

Wouter IJzermans (BEPA) contributed insights on aligning European battery ecosystem strategies with circular economy goals and supporting innovation through coordinated policy and industry collaboration.

The webinar underscored the RESPECT project’s strategic importance in promoting sustainable solutions within the battery value chain. By enhancing graphite recovery and reuse processes, RESPECT directly supports EU goals for reducing dependency on raw material imports and minimising the environmental footprint of battery production. Specifically, the project focuses on piloting and scaling up advanced hydrometallurgical and mechanical recycling techniques to recover high-purity graphite from spent lithium-ion batteries. RESPECT also contributes to establishing best practices and guiding standards for circularity, ensuring recovered materials meet industrial-grade specifications for reintegration into new batteries.

Participants acquired important knowledge on technology advancements, legal frameworks, and market trends that are essential to Europe's goals of being net-zero. The gathering promoted cross-sector communication and cooperation between researchers, policymakers, and business executives. It reaffirmed how crucial circular economy programs and strategic efforts like RESPECT are to ensuring the clean energy resiliency of Europe.

Check the recordings here