The Environment Protection Agency Sierra Leone (EPA-SL) has participated in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global Electricity Mobility Program’s Africa Workshop on Used Electric Vehicles, Battery End-of-Life, and Circularity in Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya.

The even drew participants from fifteen African countries implementing national e-mobility projects supported by UNEP, four regional and sub-regional African supra-national bodies, global partners including academia, international organisations, existing initiatives, and alliances active in the field of sustainability of Electric Vehicle batteries, the EV industry in the global north and from the African continent as well as International organizations & financing institutions.

The workshop marks the start of a consultative process on how to manage battery end-of-life in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), to leverage the results to form a new Global Partnership on Used Electric Vehicles (EVs), Battery End-of-Life, and Circularity in LMICs, paving the way for the project’s future development.

It was revealed that the project will help the country’s transition away from fossil fuels and reduce GHG emissions by accelerating the introduction of electric mobility through the development of legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks, capacity building, demonstration pilots of electric vehicles, business models for private sector engagement, and financing schemes for upscaling and replication.

The workshop initiated a conversation on used EV battery end-of-life and circularity on the African continent, ensuring only high-quality used EVs enter Africa, encouraging the repairability of EVs on the continent, implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and other mechanisms for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) or vehicle importers for end-of-life EVs and batteries, and developing standards and guidelines for the collection, preparation, and transporting of end-of-life EV batteries for local reuse, recycling, and reintegration into global EV battery value chains, and safe waste disposal.

EPA-SL revealed that, they are working on executing partner for the Global Environment Facility-funded Project, assisting Sierra Leone with the transition to electric mobility, while the United Nations Environment Programme is the implementing agency.

This event is believe to have a greater impact on the country’s Development they noted