Li-Cycle, a specialist lithium-ion battery resource recovery company, expressed its support for key elements in the recently issued Executive Order titled “Unleashing American Energy” that U.S. President Donald Trump signed on January 20, 2025.
This comprehensive policy shift, aimed at enhancing domestic energy production and strengthening the U.S. energy landscape, aligns with Li-Cycle’s mission to establish ‘urban mining’ for domestic battery resources and to bolster U.S. energy independence.
Support for Enhanced Domestic Resource Development
The Executive Order emphasizes the importance of utilizing America’s abundant energy and natural resources and incentivizes energy exploration and production within the United States. The order calls for a review of existing regulations that may impede domestic energy resource development.
Streamlined permitting processes and reduced regulatory burdens may further enhance the growth of domestic battery manufacturing, spurred by the development of new critical mineral sources essential to the industry.
Through its continued safe materials handling and resource recovery processes, Li-Cycle stands to gain from the related potential increases in batteries available for recycling.
Commitment to National Security, Energy Independence and Economic Prosperity
The focus on bolstering the U.S. mineral supply chain aligns with Li-Cycle’s vision of fostering economic self-sufficiency and national security through domestic production. Specifically, the initiative supports Li-Cycle’s commitment to recycling and recovering valuable materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt from spent batteries and manufacturing scrap.
By enabling the recovery and reuse of critical minerals, Li-Cycle can help reduce the reliance on foreign mineral supplies and enhance America’s energy supply chain security, it said.
Although the Executive Order has paused disbursements for 90 days related to specific acts passed in 2022, Li-Cycle looks forward to continuing the work it began in 2021 with the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) with respect to the Company’s closed and binding DOE loan facility. Having invested more than $500 million in the Company’s current and future American operations, Li-Cycle is excited to see the positive implications of this Executive Order on the domestic critical mineral production industries.
Li-Cycle’s thought piece related to the Executive Order is available here: https://li-cycle.com/blog/critical-minerals-a-key-element-of-the-unleashing-american-energy-executive-order/
