The GBA Battery Passport is a global sustainability reporting and certification scheme for batteries. Aiming for launch in 2027, it makes battery supply chains more visible, traceable, accountable and comparable. Alongside innovative Digital Product Passport protocols and technologies, the GBA Battery Passport harnesses trusted, harmonised supply chain data to gather, verify, score and compare sustainability performance across facilities and products.
What are the GBA Battery Passport reporting requirements and their benefits?
The GBA Battery Passport reporting and certification takes place against two key GBA frameworks, developed through multi-stakeholder consensus, involving the entire battery value chain, from mining to recycling, within the GBA membership:
The GBA Battery Benchmarks are the first globally applicable set of criteria for conducting due diligence and assessing responsible business conduct and environmental, social and governance performance in battery supply chains. The Benchmarks evaluate company performance through a modular, step-by-step process covering 18 ESG issues aligned with international frameworks (e.g. OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct and the EU Batteries Regulation) to ensure credibility, comparability, and continuous improvement.
The Battery Benchmarks were created in partnership with major voluntary sustainability standards, including the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), The Copper Mark, Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM), and ICMM Performance Expectations to promote cross recognition and efficiency. This way, they make the standards landscape more interoperable and navigable, and promote uptake of 3rd party audits across the battery supply chain.
The Greenhouse Gas Rulebook V2.1 establishes a comprehensive methodology for the calculation and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from the production to the recycling phases of electric vehicle batteries to demonstrate the battery carbon footprint in a comparable format. It is interoperable with the Nickel Institute, International Lithium Association, TfS and PACT carbon footprint methodologies, and aligned with relevant ISO standards. In anticipation of the EU Batteries Regulation Delegated Act on carbon footprint, it guides reporting via a dual electricity modelling approach, the Physical Market Approach and Harmonised Market Approach
The GHG Rulebook and Battery Benchmarks are key instruments to accelerate collective progress toward a sustainable battery ecosystem. They offer companies, policymakers, and investors a shared language for assessing and rewarding responsible production and sourcing.
How will Battery Passport data be exchanged, assured and scored?
The remaining components of the Battery Passport certification scheme are under development by the GBA’s multistakeholder membership during 2026 as follows:
Scoring: The Scoring Rulebook will define how facility-level sustainability performance is aggregated across the battery supply chain into comparable product-level scores. Its principles include flat allocation of points across attainment tiers, sequential attainment from Level A to AAA, zero-scoring for missing data unless non-applicability is established through a materiality assessment, and higher scores for higher levels of assurance in line with the Assurance Escalator.
Data assurance and verification: The Data Assurance Rulebook covers verification of reported facility data, compliance with data exchange rules, and the correct application of aggregation and scoring rules. It introduces the Assurance Escalator, which recognises increasing levels of confidence from verified documents to verified implementation, to verified effectiveness through third-party assessment against recognised standards.
Data exchange: The Data Exchange Rulebook defines guidelines for sharing data between supply chain companies according to consistent rules, enabling third-party verification of compliance with exchange rules and maintaining data confidentiality and ownership.
Digital infrastructure: Thanks to the open-access digital infrastructure under development in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC), supported by funding from the European Union, data gained through the GBA Battery Passport will enable physical batteries to be evaluated based on their supply chain sustainability characteristics, supporting their qualification for GBA certification, whilst maintaining a technology neutral approach and enabling digital interoperability with in-house and commercial 3rd party solutions.
Why do we need a global certification for batteries?
The GBA envisages a Battery Passport in 2030 that is widely adopted by industry, with the Battery Passport and GBA Certifications used to:
- Promote transparency and accountability
- Support compliance with emerging regulations and disclosure frameworks
- Enable comparability across regions, sectors, and supply chain segments
- Build trust among consumers, investors, and civil society
For companies, mainstreaming sustainability is a path to long-term growth and resilience. For the global community, it ensures that the energy transition is just, inclusive, and aligned with climate goals.
By implementing the GBA Battery Passport, supply chain companies grow trust and value for their stakeholders, build supply chain transparency, manage reputational risk, become more resilient to supply disruptions, and meet regulatory reporting requirements more efficiently. Mineral-rich countries can better prepare for global regulations - like the EU Batteries Regulation - and consumers can compare battery products before purchasing one, making a more informed choice.
Battery Passport pilots
Following the initial pilots in 2023, which marked the launch of the world's first battery passport proof-of-concept, and a second round in 2024 which covered 80% of the EV battery market share, and tested and verified real sustainability data and improved ESG scoring, a new phase of trialling is now underway.
Seventeen consortia, bringing together leading companies across the battery value chain, are currently participating in the 2026 Operational Trials. These companies are working with their suppliers to map supply chains, collect data in line with the Battery Benchmarks and Greenhouse Gas Rulebook, test digital solutions, and build trust through collaboration with independent assurance providers. Results of these largest-ever trials, which enable first movers to prepare for EU Batteries Regulation and other compliance requirements and work towards prototype GBA-certified battery products and facilities, are expected in June. Stay tuned!
The development and trialling of the GBA Battery Passport is one of the key GBA membership privileges – get in touch with the Secretariat if you are interested in learning more and getting involved: secretariat@globalbattery.org
Governance
The Battery Passport initiative is governed by a Steering Committee. It guides strategic decision-making made up of GBA members representing a balance of industry, civil society, governments, and academia.
Battery Passport Steering Committee:
- Hermann J. Feise, BASF
- Yuki Wang, CATL
- Luke Hu, Electroder
- Zinaida Nazarenko, EUCOBAT
- Rosalie Seppelt, GIZ
- Ilse Schoeters, Glencore
- Grégoire Bellois, International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD)/Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF)
- Peter Mockel, International Finance Corporation
- James McQuilken, Pact
- Nakano Katsuhiro, Panasonic
- Lei Pi, Shenzhen Precise Testing Technology
- Nalori Dhammei Chakma, Tallgrass Institute
- Byron Cheng, Tesla
- Andrea di Masi, SQM
- Gillian Davidson, Resolve
- Fanny Frémont, Responsible Mica Initiative
- Sven Jantzen, Umicore
- Nikolas Oehl-Schalla, VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik
- Chaitanya Kanuri, World Resources Institute
Secretariat
- Inga Petersen, Executive Director, GBA
- Graham Lee, Head of Programme - Battery Passport, GBA
- Kaisa Toroskainen, Senior Programme Manager, GBA
- Pramoda Gode, Programme Manager, GBA
- Jennifer Van Niekerk, Senior Administrative Coordinator, GBA
The GBA brings together leading organizations along the entire battery value chain.