Global Battery Alliance announces step toward more sustainable, responsible battery supply chain

Ten consortia, led by the world's leading battery cell manufacturers, successfully completed the largest pre-competitive effort to establish harmonized battery passports, achieving a new milestone towards more transparent and sustainable battery value chains.

The pilots were coordinated by the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), the leading multi-stakeholder platform committed to scaling a responsible and circular battery value chain by 2030. Building on the successful battery passport proof of concept in 2023, the consortia worked with seven digital solution providers to determine provenance and flow of seven materials - lithium, graphite (artificial), aluminum, cobalt, copper, iron phosphate, and nickel.

Cell manufacturers representing over 80% of global electric vehicle battery market share mobilized their supply chains from mining companies to refiners, manufacturers, and recyclers to participate in the pilots, including: Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), CALB Group Co. Ltd, Circularize, Circulor, FinDreams Battery, EVE Energy Co. Ltd, Glassdome, Gotion High-tech Co., Ltd., LG Energy Solution, Li Auto, Minviro, Minespider, Nanjing Fuchuang Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Co., Ltd. Samsung SDI, Shenzhen Dianlian Technology, Shenzhen Precise Testing Technology Co., Ltd., and Sunwoda Electronic Co., Ltd.

Building on existing regulations and voluntary standards, seven rulebooks were developed through a multistakeholder process by the GBA, covering: Greenhouse Gas emissions; Environmental and Human Rights Due Diligence; Forced Labor; Child Labor; Biodiversity; Indigenous Peoples' Rights, and Circular Design. The rulebooks define baseline expectations and leading practices to help guide company efforts in addressing risks and sustainability impacts within their supply chains. Participating in the pilot allowed companies to benchmark their preparedness against the due diligence requirements of the EU Batteries Regulation, which will be implemented from 2025.

Over 200 sustainability reports were gathered, and five pilots participated for the first time in independent data verification, marking a major step towards establishing the GBA Battery Passport as a trusted source of sustainability indicators. The GBA also trialed a system to score company efforts with the aim to issue a product level sustainability certification in the future. Leveraging digital product passports for data collection, aggregation, scoring, and verification, the GBA Battery Passport provides companies with globally harmonized expectations for reporting, guidance for continuous improvement, and recognizes efforts beyond compliance. This allows investment, procurement, and purchasing decisions to apply globally comparable metrics on battery value chain sustainability. In the future, the GBA Battery Passports will yield comparable data across 20+ environmental, social, and governance categories in a trusted format.

Commenting on the launch, Inga Petersen, executive director of the GBA, said, "We are thrilled with the results of the 2024 Battery Passport pilots and congratulate all participating organizations for this major achievement. Having the world's leading cell manufacturers mobilize their supply chains, work pre-competitively, and report on harmonized sustainability expectations represents an unprecedented commitment to greater transparency and sustainability in the battery industry as captured in the 2030 GBA Vision."