Analysis · November 2026
Lead in the EU-27 economyvalue, circularity and security of supply
The EU‑27 produces about 1,330 kt of refined lead, 900 kt of it from spent lead-acid batteries; secondary lead is 77% of output and 72% of the lead first used. Batteries take most of the lead, and the value chain – from mines to battery makers – generates with its EU suppliers EUR 4.73 bn of value added and about 60,000 jobs.
At a glance
4.73EUR bn
gross value added – lead and battery value chain with its EU suppliers
60,388jobs
in the lead and battery value chain and at its EU suppliers
1,070kt
of secondary lead – 900 kt from spent batteries, 130 kt from other scrap and 40 kt remelted directly
77%
of the refined lead produced in the EU is secondary; 72% of the lead first used
14.0Mt
of lead in use – 62% of it in batteries (31 kg per person)
933kt CO₂e
of emissions potentially avoided by secondary lead – 759 kt of it by battery recycling
Central values for 2024. The line below each figure shows the 90% uncertainty band (P5–P95) against a scale from zero. Gross contributions, not net effects; taxes are an attribution, not a fiscal balance. Tonnages are lead content unless gross weight is stated.
Seven findings
EUR 4.73 bn with the supply chain
The extended lead value chain generated EUR 1.99 bn of direct value added in 2024 with about 27,800 people employed; with the supply chain inside the EU, EUR 4.73 bn and about 60,400 jobs. Battery making (P5) accounts for 52% of direct value added; what is uncertain is mainly the split between direct and indirect effects, not their sum.
Recycling: EUR 580 m directly
Collection and trade of scrap and spent batteries (P1) and secondary lead smelters (P2) generated EUR 580 m of value added and about 8,000 jobs, EUR 1,080 m with the supply chain. Secondary smelters generate about EUR 433 of value added per tonne of lead.
EUR 1.71 bn for public finances
Activity in the chain is associated with about EUR 1.71 bn of taxes and social contributions excluding VAT, EUR 1.29 bn of it on labour. Lead production (NACE 24.43) is eligible for indirect emission cost compensation, battery making (NACE 27.20) is not; the compensation recorded for lead plants is EUR 3.59 m.
14.0 Mt of lead in use
The dynamic model puts the lead stock at 31 kg per person, mostly in batteries. End-of-life products released about 1,330 kt of lead in 2024; about 1,110 kt was recovered in the EU, 89% of the non-dissipative outflow.
933 kt CO₂e potentially avoided
With one-for-one replacement of primary lead at 1.82 t CO₂e per tonne (secondary lead 0.977 t), secondary lead produced in the EU potentially avoided about 930 kt CO₂e, 760 kt of it through battery recycling. Across the counterfactuals the result ranges from −40 to 1,840 kt.
Metal imported, batteries exported
EU mines correspond to 10%, primary lead to 20% and all refined lead made in the EU to 89% of the lead first used. Unwrought lead imports come 54% from the United Kingdom. The EU exported 643 kt of lead-acid batteries and imported 572 kt.
85% recycled lead from 2031
Secondary refined lead produced in the EU equals 82% of the lead in batteries made in the EU, 92% with net imports of unwrought lead; this is an availability indicator, not the calculation required by Article 8 of the Batteries Regulation. In the high-circularity scenario (2035) secondary lead rises to 1,170 kt.
From ore to battery – six links
The EU‑27 is treated as one economy: deliveries between Member States are domestic, and only trade with countries outside the EU is foreign trade. The PB‑EU model covers six segments – from polymetallic ore mines to lead-acid battery makers.
Lead mining
Lead associated with zinc, copper and silver ores; mainly SE, PL, BG
- EUR m GVA
- 132
- jobs
- 873
Scrap collection and trade
Spent batteries and lead scrap outside smelters
- EUR m GVA
- 131
- jobs
- 2,259
Secondary lead
Battery recyclers and other secondary lead smelters
- EUR m GVA
- 446
- jobs
- 5,722
Primary and by-product lead
Lead smelters and multi-metal plants
- EUR m GVA
- 151
- jobs
- 2,000
Sheet, powders and oxides
Lead sheet, powders, oxides and articles
- EUR m GVA
- 86
- jobs
- 1,442
Lead-acid batteries
Starting, stationary and motive; sales EUR 6,522 m
- EUR m GVA
- 1,044
- jobs
- 15,500
First use of lead
batteries · sheet · oxides · alloys
1,496 ktof lead first used in the EU, 2024
Economy
Value added, jobs and taxes
Environment
Avoided emissions, energy and tailings
Strategy
Metal imports, battery trade, the 85% recycled-lead target
EUR 4.73 bn of value added and 60,000 jobs
EU suppliers add EUR 2,740 m of value added and about 32,600 jobs, household spending a further EUR 1,380 m and about 18,000 jobs. The value-added multiplier is 2.38 (type I) and 3.07 (type II) – mainly because of the purchases of battery makers.
- Direct
- EU supply chain
- Employee spending
Gross value added, EUR m
Jobs
Gross contribution at fixed input-output coefficients, not net jobs. With the battery value-added ratio from the industry study (28.5% instead of 16%) direct value added would be 41% higher, value added with the supply chain only 5% higher.
EUR 1.71 bn of taxes; little compensation for lead
Activity in the chain is associated with about EUR 1,710 m of taxes and contributions excluding VAT: EUR 650 m in the segments, EUR 710 m at suppliers and EUR 350 m from household spending. Lead production (NACE 24.43) is eligible for indirect emission cost compensation, battery making (NACE 27.20) is not.
Taxes and contributions by category, EUR m, 2024
Value added per person employed, EUR thousand, 2024
SourceTaxes excluding VAT; model estimates – an attribution, not a fiscal balance. Neither free allocation of emission allowances (about EUR 7.5 m) nor indirect emission cost compensation is deducted.
1,070 kt of secondary lead – mostly from batteries
Secondary smelters break spent batteries, separate the lead parts, paste, acid and polypropylene, and smelt the lead fractions. Eurostat reports 768.6 kt of lead recovered from batteries in 22 Member States in 2023; PB‑EU assumes 900 kt for the whole EU. Other secondary lead comes from residues, drosses, sheet and cable sheathing.
kt, 2024
Domestic supply of lead in scrap and spent batteries – two methods, kt
- End-of-life scrap (dynamic model) · 1,112
- New scrap and residues · 60
- Residual estimate (feed and extra-EU trade) · 1,051
SourceResidual estimate: lead in secondary feed (1,120 kt) less net extra-EU imports of lead in scrap and spent batteries (69 kt). It is 121 kt below the bottom-up estimate (90% band −200 to −22 kt); the difference is not attributed to any item.
14.0 Mt of lead – mostly in batteries
The dynamic model of lead in use (1960–2035) links the industry to the stock from which end-of-life scrap flows. Batteries have short lifetimes, so the annual outflow (about 1,330 kt) is large relative to the stock. Stock and recovery stay close to current levels to 2035 – about 14.1 Mt and 1,110 kt.
Lead stock in use in the EU‑27, Mt
Stock in use by product group, Mt, 2024
Secondary lead: 0.98 t CO₂e against 1.82 t for primary
According to the International Lead Association life-cycle assessment, primary lead produced in Europe and North America carries 1.82 t CO₂e per tonne and European secondary lead 0.977 t. Direct remelting of scrap has a screening footprint of 0.20 t. On average secondary lead produced in the EU carries 0.95 t CO₂e per tonne.
Carbon footprint of a tonne of lead, t CO₂e (cradle to gate)
Emissions potentially avoided, 2024
933 kt CO₂e
Emissions potentially avoided by variant, kt CO₂e
What secondary lead produced in the EU helps avoid
- About 12.8 Mt of tailings and 14.4 PJ of primary energy a year.
- 870 kt CO₂e at secondary lead smelters and 65 kt through direct remelting; the battery route alone 760 kt.
- Battery recycling also yields polypropylene granulate and sodium sulphate or gypsum.
Verified emissions of the three lead plants in the EU ETS were 179.5 kt CO₂e in 2024; most battery recyclers are below the threshold of the system. The result depends on the counterfactual (−41 to 1,839 kt).
Importer of metal, exporter of batteries
The EU imports unwrought lead from outside the EU – 54% of it from the United Kingdom, and also from Lebanon and Serbia – and concentrates, mainly from the United States. It is a net exporter of lead-acid batteries: starting batteries go mainly to the United Kingdom, the United States and Türkiye. The EU is a net importer of spent batteries.
Balance of extra-EU trade in lead and batteries, EUR m
- Scrap and spent batteries
- Lead-acid batteries
- Unwrought lead
- Ores and concentrates
Largest extra-EU partners, 2024 · 256 kt
- UK139.1
- LB25.5
- RS12.5
- MX9.8
- IL8.4
- BY7.2
- UA5.3
- TR4.5
Largest extra-EU partners, 2024 · 428 kt
- UK85.6
- US66.7
- TR34.3
- ZA20.8
- UA19.5
- MA16.3
- IL14.3
- RS13.1
Where lead is produced in the EU‑27
Primary and by-product lead is produced by smelters in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Poland and Bulgaria; the lead line at Portovesme is in care and maintenance. Battery recyclers operate in seven Member States, and several changed hands in 2025–2026.
- Primary and by-product lead
- Lead line in care and maintenance
- Battery recycling
- Lead from secondary oxides
List of plants
- Nyrstar Stolberg (Trafigura)Stolberg (DE) · Primary and by-product leadQSL lead smelter, primary and secondary feed; 104 kt in financial year 2023/24
- Glencore NordenhamNordenham (DE) · Primary and by-product leadlead smelter; furnace temporarily shut in H1 2024
- Umicore HobokenHoboken (BE) · Primary and by-product leadlead co-produced at a multi-metal plant
- Boliden RönnskärSkelleftehamn (SE) · Primary and by-product leadco-produced lead, 19 kt in 2024
- KGHM Legnica smelterLegnica (PL) · Primary and by-product leadrefining of crude lead, 28.8 kt in 2024
- KCMPlovdiv (BG) · Primary and by-product leadzinc and lead smelter
- Glencore PortovesmePortoscuso (IT) · Lead line in care and maintenancelead line in care and maintenance
- Boliden BergsöeLandskrona (SE) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling, 47 kt of lead alloys in 2024
- CampineBeerse (BE) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling, about 61 kt of lead alloys in 2024
- ClariosFreiberg (DE) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling (Ecobat until May 2026)
- ClariosBraubach (DE) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling (Ecobat until May 2026)
- ClariosArnoldstein (AT) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling (Ecobat until May 2026)
- ClariosBuchholz-Krautscheid (DE) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling
- ClariosMedina del Campo (ES) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling
- Haiki+Paderno Dugnano (IT) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling (Ecobat until July 2025)
- Haiki+Marcianise (IT) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling (Ecobat until July 2025)
- Orzeł BiałyBytom (PL) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling, 64.9 kt of lead in 2024
- BaterpolŚwiętochłowice (PL) · Battery recyclingbattery recycling, 32.8 kt of lead in 2024
- Huta Cynku Miasteczko ŚląskieMiasteczko Śląskie (PL) · Lead from secondary oxideslead from secondary oxides, 14.8 kt in 2024
Milestones 2023–2031
The EU lead value chain is shaped above all by the Batteries Regulation, rules on vehicles and chemicals, the protection of workers from lead exposure and the rules on waste shipments.
End-of-life vehicles
Delegated Directive (EU) 2023/544 keeps the exemption for lead in 12 V and 24 V batteries.
Batteries Regulation
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542: targets for collection, recycling and recycled lead content in batteries.
Occupational exposure to lead
Directive (EU) 2024/869: limit value 0.03 mg/m³ and biological limit value 30 µg/100 ml of blood.
Critical Raw Materials Act
Lead is on neither the strategic nor the critical list (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252).
REACH: lead in PVC
At most 0.1% lead from 29 November 2024; battery separators exempt until 28 May 2033.
Recycling efficiency 75%
Required for lead-acid batteries by the end of 2025.
CBAM definitive period
Lead (chapter 78) is not covered.
Transposition of Directive 2024/869
Deadline 9 April 2026; biological limit value 15 µg/100 ml from 2029.
Waste shipments
Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 applies: spent batteries are hazardous waste (A1160), exports outside the OECD banned.
Vehicles regulation
The European Parliament adopted on 18 June 2026 the regulation replacing the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive.
Documentation of recycled lead content
Required from 18 August 2028 (Article 8 of the Batteries Regulation).
At least 85% recycled lead
From 18 August 2031 in industrial, SLI and electric-vehicle batteries; 95% lead recovery by the end of 2031.
More secondary lead, the 85% target within reach
Three “what if” calculations at 2024 prices, with labour productivity rising 1.0% a year. End-of-life scrap recovery comes from the dynamic model, and net trade in unwrought lead closes the balance.
Value added with supply chain · EUR m
Jobs with supply chain · persons
Secondary lead · kt
Method in brief
PB‑EU applies the integrated IGMNiR model, developed for non-ferrous metals in Poland and for copper, aluminium and zinc in the EU‑27, to lead and lead-acid batteries in the EU‑27 treated as one economy. The national report on lead in Poland and PB‑EU are alternative perspectives that do not add up.
Scope and allocation
Six segments P0–P5: P0 and P1 from EU‑27 structural business statistics (SBS) with lead shares, P2, P3 and P5 from physical volumes, value-added ratios and employment.
Lead mass balance
Refined output, three routes of secondary lead and first use; domestic supply of scrap and spent batteries residually and bottom-up.
Lead in use
Inflow-driven stock model 1960–2035, five product groups, normally distributed lifetimes.
Economy and taxes
Leontief input-output model, type I and II, on the EU‑27 block of FIGARO 2024; smelters valued physically from a cost account.
Environment
ILA footprints of primary and secondary lead, screening values; tailings, energy, EU ETS emissions.
Strategy and uncertainty
Coverage indicators, HHI, recycled-lead indicator, stress tests; Monte Carlo with 10,000 draws and a Gaussian copula, variants and scenarios.
Limitations
- Results are gross contributions at fixed coefficients, not net policy effects; taxes are an attribution, not a fiscal balance.
- Structural business statistics do not separate lead-acid batteries from other batteries; the P5 value-added ratio comes from a group of seven Member States, and EU employment in NACE 27.20 is a lower bound.
- Many national figures for refined lead output are estimates; other secondary lead is a residual, and the residual and bottom-up estimates of scrap supply differ by 121 kt.
- Footprints refer to 2015 and are not ISO 14044 life-cycle assessments; the result depends on the displaced primary lead.
The report was prepared with the support of artificial-intelligence tools for data processing, modelling and drafting.
Download and cite
The full report covers the policy context, the lead balance, the dynamic model, all parameters with ranges and sources, control tests, the list of EU ETS installations and the bibliography.
IGMNiR (2026), Lead in the EU-27 economy: value, circularity and security of supply. An integrated assessment of lead and the lead-acid battery value chain in the European Union (PB-EU model), Economic Chamber of Non-Ferrous Metals and Recycling, November 2026.
Model run ID: PBEU-1.0-cfcd85b2f4