LONDON, June 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On June 22, CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced two new initiatives together with BMW, Renault, Volvo, Google, Xiaomi and other industry leaders and stakeholders, at the Climate Innovation Forum, the flagship event of London Climate Action Week 2026, through CATL’s Global Energy Circularity Commitment (GECC), developed in strategic partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The initiatives include circular battery design guidelines to embed circularity across the full battery lifecycle, and a business coalition to accelerate the policy, investment and commercial conditions needed to make circular business models the industry norm.

By 2040, the global battery recycling market alone is projected to exceed RMB 1.2 trillion, creating more than 10 million jobs, while the International Energy Agency projects demand for battery-critical minerals will increase fivefold over the same period. Meeting that demand sustainably will require not only greater recycling capacity, but common design standards and business models that keep materials in productive use for longer.

CATL became the first battery manufacturer to achieve carbon neutrality across its core operations in 2025, certified under ISO 14068-1, with full value-chain carbon neutrality targeted by 2035. Much of the remaining challenge lies in mining and raw material processing rather than manufacturing. Circularity will play a central role in meeting future demand without proportional increases in virgin material extraction. The initiatives announced aim to help build the common frameworks needed to accelerate that transition.

Earlier the same day, at Octopus Energy’s Energy Tech Summit, CATL and Octopus Energy announced Europe’s first battery-swapping joint venture, targeting 300,000 electric trucks and 30 hubs across Europe by 2035, with the first UK hubs scheduled to open in 2027. The partnership demonstrates the type of commercially viable circular business model the coalition aims to accelerate.

Miranda Schnitger, Climate Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation: “Circular economy approaches were key to tackling the 45% of emissions that come from how we produce and consume.”

Jiang Li, Vice President and Board Secretary, CATL: “Last year we set the direction: decouple battery growth from virgin material extraction. Today, the industry is beginning to build the common rules that will help deliver it. That is not only a climate opportunity, but an industrial one.”

Greg Jackson, Founder and CEO, Octopus Energy Group: “By designing batteries to be swapped, optimised, shared and reused thousands of times, we can squeeze every drop of value out of the materials we already have, rather than digging up more. That’s why our battery-swapping joint venture with CATL matters; we are taking the world’s best hardware, combining it with smart energy tech to make it cheaper and more flexible, and building a completely self-sustaining transport network.”

Initiative I: Circular Battery Design Guidelines

The circular battery design guidelines establish a common methodology for circular battery design across a range of mobility applications. As a founding partner, CATL brings practical experience from battery manufacturing, recycling and service operations to support their development. The methodology is intended to inform procurement standards, investor frameworks and future regulatory discussions, including the evolution of European battery policy.

Developed to address fragmentation across approaches to repair, second life and recycling, the guidelines provide a shared basis for comparing circular performance across the market. They aim to help buyers evaluate products, investors assess long-term value, and policymakers reference a consistent framework.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation provides a neutral platform through which companies across the battery value chain can develop shared principles that no single organisation could establish alone. The working group is now underway, with publication planned for 2027.

Initiative II: Business Coalition for Circular Business Models

The coalition for circular business models is a policy and industry platform established to accelerate the adoption of circular business models across mobility and energy. With battery swapping already operating across more than 1,650 stations in 127 Chinese cities, the focus is shifting from demonstrating technical feasibility to creating the commercial, regulatory and financing conditions required for international scale.

CATL contributes practical experience through its battery-as-a-service and battery-swapping businesses, including the expanding Choco-Swap and QIJI networks, providing operational insights that can support wider deployment globally.

The coalition also seeks to establish common approaches for evaluating circular battery assets, including service history, degradation data and second-life value, providing investors, fleet operators and policymakers with greater confidence and reducing market uncertainty.

CATL Advances Circular Battery Systems

CATL continues to scale circularity across its operations. In 2025, Brunp Recycling processed 210,000 tonnes of end-of-life batteries, recovering 99.6% of nickel, cobalt and manganese, with 80% of recovered materials returning directly into CATL’s battery production.

Rather than treating recycling as the end of a product’s life, CATL integrates circularity into battery design, manufacturing, use and recovery as a connected system.

Furthermore, CATL is accelerating the commercialization of sodium-ion batteries, with plans to deliver its first sodium-ion energy storage systems to customers starting this September. This initiative expands the energy storage technology roadmap beyond lithium, cobalt, and nickel, enhancing material supply resilience and cost stability.

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SOURCE CATL

Fast-Growing Fitness App Surpasses 15,000+ Installs in the Garmin Ecosystem

SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LiftTrack, the first strength training platform built specifically for Garmin users, today announced the official launch of its AI-powered fitness app. The new mobile app delivers advanced workout planning, strength analytics, and personalized AI-driven training insights to one of the world’s largest wearable fitness communities.

While Garmin has become a leading platform for endurance athletes, strength training has remained underserved. LiftTrack fills that gap by letting users build workouts in-app, sync them to Garmin Connect, track sessions on their watch using Garmin’s native strength activity, and automatically sync data back for detailed analysis and progress tracking.

“Garmin excels at endurance tracking, but strength training has been underserved,” said Evan Noble, Founder of LiftTrack. “I built LiftTrack because it was missing in my own training, and it turns out many athletes felt the same way. We’re bringing AI-powered strength training to help users train smarter and reach their goals faster.”

Key Features Include:

Seamless Garmin Integration: Create, schedule, and sync strength workouts directly to Garmin watches for seamless training.AI Virtual Coaching: Design personalized workout programs and make real-time adjustments based on feedback and training data.Smarter Workout Programming: Build custom exercises, schedule recurring workouts, access coach-designed training plans, and use automatic progressive overload recommendations.Advanced Performance Insights: Track training load, workout volume, personal records, and detailed exercise analytics to measure long-term progress.Connected Training Experience: Access exercise descriptions and videos while integrating with ChatGPT (via Model Context Protocol), Garmin Connect, and Strava.

Since launching its Garmin integration in 2025, LiftTrack has surpassed 15,000 installs and 13,800 signups. Users have completed more than 60,000 workouts, with monthly activity exceeding 10,000 sessions, and hundreds of new subscribers joining each month.

LiftTrack is available for download now on Apple and Android via a freemium model, offering approximately 90% of features free with optional premium upgrades.

About LiftTrack: 
LiftTrack is the first strength training platform to directly integrate with Garmin watches. The app enables athletes to build workouts, track performance, and leverage AI-powered insights through seamless Garmin ecosystem integration. For more information visit www.lifttrackapp.com.

Media Contact:
Kristin Ann
PR Manager
Elkordy Global Strategies
Kristin@elkordyglobal.com

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Authorization expands regulated access to FalconX’s global institutional trading, custody, and prime brokerage platform across the European Union and European Economic Area

MALTA, June 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — FalconX, the leading institutional digital asset prime broker, today announced that FalconX Limited has received authorization under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

The authorization strengthens FalconX’s ability to serve institutional clients across the European Economic Area through a unified regulatory framework, supporting trading, custody, and liquidity solutions across digital asset markets.

“Institutional markets run on trust, transparency, and well-defined rules. As digital assets become increasingly integrated into the global financial system, clients expect the same standards they rely on in traditional markets. MiCA represents an important step forward for the industry, and this authorization strengthens our ability to deliver regulated trading, custody, and liquidity solutions to clients across Europe,” said Maruska Buttigieg Gili, Chief Compliance Officer (Europe) at FalconX.

FalconX serves more than 2,000 institutional clients globally, including many of the world’s leading asset managers, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and digital asset firms. It has facilitated over $2.5 trillion in trading volume and originated more than $8 billion in institutional financing since inception.

The firm’s regulatory footprint includes FalconX Bravo, Inc., the first CFTC-registered swap dealer focused on digital asset derivatives. The authorization also complements FalconX’s recently announced acquisition of 21shares, further strengthening the firm’s ability to support institutional clients and partners across Europe’s digital asset ecosystem. Together, these milestones reflect FalconX’s mission to bridge traditional financial markets and digital assets through institutional-grade infrastructure delivered within regulated market frameworks.

About FalconX
FalconX is a leading digital asset prime brokerage for the world’s top institutions. We provide comprehensive access to global digital asset liquidity and a full range of trading services. Our 24/7 dedicated team for account, operational and trading needs enables investors to navigate markets around the clock. FalconX Bravo, Inc., a FalconX affiliate, was the first CFTC-registered swap dealer focused on cryptocurrency derivatives.

FalconX is backed by investors including Accel, Adams Street Partners, Altimeter Capital, American Express Ventures, B Capital, GIC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Thoma Bravo, Tiger Global Management and Wellington Management. FalconX has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Hong Kong, Bengaluru, Singapore and Valletta. For more information visit falconx.io or follow FalconX on X and LinkedIn.
“FalconX” is a marketing name for FalconX Limited and its affiliates. Availability of products and services is subject to jurisdictional limitations and FalconX entity capabilities. For more information about which legal entities offer particular products and services, please see the disclosure on our public website, incorporated herein, or reach out to your relationship contact.

Media Contact:
media@falconx.io

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SOURCE FalconX