While progress is being made at the regional level, global coordination remains limited. Organizations such as the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) are contributing to these efforts in other sectors such as fisheries, garments and footwear and could serve as platforms for driving more global alignment in EVB- focused T&T initiatives.59 In addition, policy-makers will need to promote data security and tamper- proofing requirements. Doing this effectively will require greater collaboration between countries linking T&T to the relevant national or international registries to reduce both illegal export and illegal treatment of EOL batteries. For instance, DPPs may be interconnected with national vehicle registration offices. Additionally, these requirements must remain dynamic and adaptable to emerging use cases, which often develop unevenly across regions. It is crucial that they involve both demand centres and resource extraction countries. Questions that must be addressed include: –How do T&T solutions collect, manage, exchange and verify data? How should commercially sensitive data be handled? Who should have access to what data? –What rules should apply to product carbon footprint calculations? How is the data verified? What statements may providers make as part of their solutions? (Guidance to help answer these questions can be found in the recommendations made by the COP26 Roundtable for Harmonized Principles for Data Authentication and Protection to Realize the Paris Goals.)60 –How can it be ensured that T&T does not become a vehicle for exclusion of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) supply, since the instruments are tailored for large-scale mining operators? How can it be ensured that access to a market of responsibly sourced ASM minerals, which are critical in many regions as a source of income and livelihoods? –How should costs of implementing T&T solutions (collecting and aggregating data) be distributed across the value chain? Build industry consortia and public-private partnerships. Multistakeholder public-private consortia are instrumental in pioneering DPPs for EV batteries. Industry actors in the manufacturing and EOL portions of the value chain, data platform providers, civil society, consumer protection groups and regulatory agencies need to collaborate on developing secure data exchange and aggregation platforms to enable transparency and circularity through T&T. For instance, different public-private alliances in the EU are working on developing standards for data exchange, storage and reporting to enable compliance with the EU Battery Regulation’s traceability requirements. GBA has worked on developing guidelines for T&T providers reporting on ESG data, and a rulebook for reporting greenhouse gas emissions through an extensive stakeholder engagement process. It has also conducted pilots to demonstrate capability for complying with regulations. Other initiatives to support data standardization include Catena-X, which leverages digital twins and blockchain to promote secure, interoperable data exchange within the automotive industry;61 MOBI, which focuses on developing data infrastructure and an implementation framework for a decentralized battery passport system;62 and BatteryPass, which supports compliance with EU regulations by standardizing data reporting for sustainability and circular economy goals. By collaborating with governments and industry, these initiatives have the potential to accelerate the standardization of T&T systems, driving transparency, regulatory compliance and sustainability across the global value chain. Other regions across the globe need to build on these existing efforts by initiating similar partnerships to develop T&T solutions tailored to their specific region, value chain segment, use cases, and current or anticipated regulation. For instance, in the US, an evolved version of DPP can help demonstrate compliance with the Inflation Reduction Act’s 30D foreign entity of concern (FEOC) regulation,63 though the regulation does not require any particular tracing system at this time. Require additional circularity metrics reporting to encourage sustainable practices. DPPs can provide additional value when metrics beyond the scope of a battery’s manufacturing footprint are incorporated. Tracking durability and performance of a battery in terms of lifespan, energy delivered and carbon footprint enables automakers to choose more sustainable batteries that meet their performance needs while contributing to their emissions reduction and sustainability goals – in turn helping build demand for lower-emissions batteries. While the 2023 EU Battery Regulation requires carbon footprint declaration of EV battery manufacturing to inform assessment of carbon threshold levels and to shift the market towards lower footprint products,64 there are no requirements to track metrics such as the energy delivered throughout the lifetime of a product or to estimate the carbon footprint of a battery per unit of energy delivered. Incorporating such a metric would encourage battery design for longer lifetimes through first- and second-life applications. On a similar note, requiring battery health Powering the Future: Overcoming Battery Supply Chain Challenges with Circularity 19

Powering the Future 2025