The market for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and stationary battery storage systems is growing rapidly. An integrated approach is vital to ensure the underlying technologies meet the ever-growing sustainability demands. TÜV SÜD, a leading global provider of Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) services, has developed a sustainability assessment program for battery production, which is currently being implemented for the first time in a pilot project with Microvast Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MVST), a leading supplier of battery technology for next-generation commercial and special-purpose vehicles.
When developing its sustainability assessment program, TÜV SÜD was guided by the holistic sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and took these goals as a basis to define specific criteria and indicators that allowed its technical inspection experts to assess and quantify sustainability.
TÜV SÜD even considered the requirements of the future EU Battery Directive. The TÜV SÜD sustainability assessment program is designed to support manufacturers in developing more sustainable battery production operations which will ultimately encompass not only ecological, but also social and economic aspects.
In a pilot project for the first stage of the sustainability assessment, TÜV SÜD reviewed the current status of corporate sustainability at several of Microvast’s facilities. The pilot project marked the debut of a newly developed SDG assessment tool which enables impartial, holistic, and transparent recording and assessment of the underlying data to be performed. The results of the first stage of the sustainability assessment were summarized in a status report, which Microvast will use as a baseline for advancing its sustainability initiatives.
“Sustainability, sustainable production, and sustainable supply chains are turning into a critical characteristic that delivers competitive edge for companies across all industries,” says Ferdinand Neuwieser, CEO of TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH. “We are honored to carry out this sustainability assessment pilot project. Microvast is highly dedicated to its goal of improving the sustainability of its battery production and this project is an important step toward achieving those goals.”
“Our strategic goal is to establish fully sustainable battery production operations and supply chains on the basis of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs),” says Sascha Kelterborn, President & Chief Revenue Officer of Microvast Holdings, Inc. “We are aware of the challenges that await us. The sustainability assessment and the status reports from TÜV SÜD will support us in overcoming these challenges and document our progress on the road to securing a leadership position in the sustainable battery production sector.”
The project will now enter the second stage, which is expected to involve recommendations to further improve the sustainability of Microvast’s production processes.
