Environmental Standards for Lead Battery Plants

Summary

The objective of the Better Environmental Sustainability Targets (BEST) Certification is to reduce emissions from lead battery plants and recyclers to prevent lead poisoning in developing countries.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

The World Health Organization estimates that 120 million people are overexposed, and 99 percent of the most severely exposed reside in developing countries. Lead batteries are the largest source of lead exposures throughout the world. Hundreds of thousands of children and adults who are over exposed to lead will benefit from emission reductions. This project will pilot test an environmental audit program in India in order to certify companies operating within acceptable performance parameters.

How will this project solve this problem?

The BEST program is designed to restructure the incentives that drive industry behavior, and at the same time it creates a self-sustaining revenue stream from licensing the ecolabel.

Potential Long Term Impact

Our goal is to reduce emissions from lead battery plants and encourage more environmentally sound battery recycling. Our incentive program will certify plants that meet minimum standards for emissions and product stewardship.

Project Message

After struggling to find a solution to limit emissions from lead battery manufacturing and recycling, we are now at the verge of a breakthrough with the launch of the BEST Certification Program.
- Dr. Thuppil Venkatesh, Director

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources