There is a lack of research summarizing the current literature on the environmental impact related to hydrometallurgical recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) with nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathodes. Consequently, this work aims to comparatively analyze the current research findings and provide a comprehensive overview about the current state of knowledge. In recent years there has been an increase in publications in this field of research. The keyword-based search strategy identified 22 relevant studies, which were analysed in more detail. It was found that the number of studies referring to secondary data is higher than the number of studies referring to primary data. This means that fewer new insights are gained. The proportion of studies using primary data should therefore be increased. In addition, most LCA studies were conducted in China, followed by studies from Europe and the US. The most frequently used functional unit was 1 kWh. For comparison purposes, the other functional units has been adapted accordingly in this Review. Positive impacts were found for global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand (CED). The GWP burden values for kg CO2eq/kWh range from 3.98 to 14.41, while the credit ranges from -35.00 to -74.9 kg CO2eq/kWh. The total benefit falls between -13.03 and -62.2 kg CO2eq/kWh. The values for the total CED vary between 257 MJ/kWh and -478.17 MJ/kWh. Further impact categories have only been sporadically considered in the literature.