Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and copper are essential for electrification and for all clean energy technologies – EV batteries, grid storage, wind turbines, and solar panels. Traceability, e.g. being able to track where these materials come from and how they are processed, supports environmental standards, responsible labour practices, circular economy efforts like recycling and reuse.
The White Paper “Digital Product Passports and Critical Raw Materials for Batteries,” published by UNECE, highlights how different national regulations on critical raw materials (CRMs), related data privacy, security, and confidentiality can conflict with traceability and transparency across cross-border value chains for electric vehicles and renewable technologies.
The Paper focuses on the role and implementation of Digital Product Passports (DPPs) - digital tools designed to trace the lifecycle of critical raw materials from mine to recycling. It finds that major economies such as the EU, US, and China are developing DPP systems that are not interoperable. This lack of interoperability creates confusion and significant compliance costs for businesses, potentially sidelining smaller operators and developing nations.
To fulfil the need for interoperable DPPs, underlying methodologies also need to be harmonized and UNECE is developing the United Nations Transparency Protocol (UNTP). As part of the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan, G7 leaders committed to call for the development of a global framework for interoperability of digital credentials and DPP compatibility aligned with the UNTP. Moreover, the UNECE is expected to deliver on a cradle-to-grave carbon footprint globally harmonized methodology for cars and its components that could serve as a basis for global DPPs deployment for automotive products. (....)