{
  "id": 15032534,
  "title": "Wider approach needed to mitigate rising rechargeable battery emissions",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/wider-approach-needed-to-mitigate-rising-rechargeable-battery",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-16T20:10:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-10-wider-approach-mitigate-rechargeable-battery.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new study from the University of Melbourne highlights the urgent need for a broader approach to mitigate the climate impact of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which are crucial for clean energy but have significant production emissions. The research, led by Associate Professor Wen Li, found that demand for LIBs in electric vehicles and energy storage could surge 20-fold by 2050, causing a tenfold increase in the supply chain's greenhouse gas emissions. While cleaner production methods are essential, they alone are insufficient to mitigate these emissions increases. The study, published in the journal One Earth, suggests that demand-side strategies—such as reducing battery sizes, extending battery lifetimes, and promoting shared mobility—could cut global LIB emissions by up to half by 2050. This combined approach, which includes both supply-side and demand-side decarbonization efforts, could reduce the predicted emissions from 19-23 billion tonnes of CO₂-equivalent to around 9-12 billion tonnes, a reduction as significant as the annual emissions of a major global economy like the EU.",
  "summary": "A new University of Melbourne-led study has identified insights and evidence that could help mitigate the fast-rising climate impact of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}