The success of the global energy transition depends on a rapidly growing and uninterrupted supply of critical materials for renewable energy technologies. This requires a unified, open and transparent global repository of data on critical materials, covering extraction, trade and criticality assessment. The lack of such a repository leads to actors taking less-well-informed decisions about critical materials markets. Data opacity delays the supply of critical materials to international markets and interrupts the deployment of renewable energy.
This study reviews the main actors involved in the governance of critical materials supply chain data, including national government institutions, international organisations and foundations, mineral associations, and commercial data providers.
A total of 45 data sources produced by these actors were reviewed in the study, with a focus on data accessibility, transparency and coverage.
