The transition towards renewable energy is relying heavily on batteries. To ensure that the required material for making these batteries are sustainably sourced - keeping a low carbon footprint and maintaining high ethical standards - more transparency is required in the battery supply chain. The problem however, is that documentation is scattered and siloed, verification is complex, and there is no solution working for the whole industry.
Glencore
Eurasian Resources Group
CMOC/IXM
Cobalt Institute
Responsible Minerals Initiative
Nornickel
Umicore
Tesla
Johnson Matthey
Consisting of 20+ partners in the whole industry – from mine to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), initiated by leading miners and co-developed by industry frontrunners. This permits openness and inclusivity for all parties across the supply chain. Re|Source is built by the industry, for the whole industry.
The solution traces battery material and relevant sustainability performances from origin to end-producer. This enables downstream actors to determine cobalt provenance and perform due diligence on upstream and midstream actors, aiming to ensure that all cobalt used in end-products is sustainably sourced.
It does this by creating digital twins that are traded between industry partners. This digital twin represents real cobalt and is verified physically at each step in the supply chain through scans and checks. The digital twin is created at the mine, then following the materials journey through the supply chain, ending up at the OEM. The OEM can thereby see for every product he creates, what the provenance is of all material residing in the end product, and how it performs according to sustainability standards.
According to antitrust regulation, full transparency is not allowed. Re|Source is using a combination of state-of-the-art technologies for sharing proofs, without disclosing sensitive information. The chosen combination is ensuring reliability of data (proving a material transaction actually happened and is coming from the correct supplier), as well as embracing industry dynamics and maintaining necessary confidentiality for commercial data and antitrust compliance.Â
I am proud to support Re|Source in developing a technology solution to assure traceability in the entire battery industry. For many years, Umicore has been a pioneer in promoting a sustainable value chain by only offering battery materials of a certified and ethical origin.
For almost three years and the product has been validated through end-to-end pilots conducted by us. With the success of these pilots as a foundation, we will launch Re|Source on selected supply chains in 2022. Next to product development and validation, In collaboration with industry bodies, Kryha is continuously optimising existing due diligence and audit processes while saving costs. We’re proactively engaging with other traceability solutions and industry platforms, realising interoperability based on practical industry requirements. From 2023, Re|Source will continue scaling the amounts of materials traced and adding additional features.
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