A few weeks ago, we explained to you how important it is to calculate our carbon footprint and how complicated it can be to accurately assessing the environmental impact of battery production. Complicated, but not impossible! 
So where did we begin? How did we do it? Elodie Malka, Environmental Manager at ACC explains… 

1.    Calculating greenhouse gases emissions linked to battery manufacturing

We decided to start with the greenhouse gases emissions linked to battery manufacturing.
First, we estimated our scope 1 which includes all direct emissions from our activities. Basically, any fuel we burn in our facilities falls into scope 1. 

Industrial team estimated the quantity of gas needed for one block and using an emission factor, we converted it into Greenhouse Gaz (GHG) emissions. 
For the first block of ACC’s first Gigafactory in Billy-Berclau Douvrin, gas consumption represents almost 50 000 t equivalent (eq.). CO2 per year or 3,5 kg eq. CO2 / kWh. Switching from steam to electric ovens for the next blocks (ultimately, there will be 3 production blocks by 2030) allows us to reduce these emissions by 85% compared to the first block.

2.    Calculating greenhouse gases emissions linked to energy consumption

So what about electricity? The purchase and consumption of electricity, steam, heat, or cooling also generates GHG emissions and these indirect emissions constitute the scope 2. 

Industrial team listed all equipment from the plant and their energy consumption to forecast our factory electricity needs. Unlike gas, the emission factor of electricity changes depending on the country you are in and how it produces its electricity. In France, electricity is mainly produced by nuclear power which is a low-carbon source of energy. For the first block of Billy-Berclau Douvrin’s Gigafactory, with the French energy mix, the scope 2 emissions represent less than 1 kg eq. CO2/kWh. For the following blocks, even if we are using electric oven, it won’t even reach 1,5 kg eq CO2/kWh. In countries like Germany or Italy however, the emission factor is much higher. 
ACC is working to identify decarbonized electricity supply to reduce the scope 2 to zero. 

Working relentlessly to reduce our carbon footprint. 

As you can see of the graphs below, our GHG emissions will naturally augment as we open new blocks in each of our gigafactory but our R&D teams are working continuously to find ways to reduce our footprint – by improving the components used in the battery or by optimizing the machines needed for the production and reducing their energy consumption. As a result, we can expect the ratio of our GHG emissions vs. the number of batteries produced to go down as we go along. We’ll keep you updated! 

See the infographic in full screen