Nature-Positive Business for the Battery Value Chain Sector: From managing risks to creating positive impact across the value chain

March 30, 2026

Nature-Positive Business for the Battery Value Chain Sector: 
From managing risks to creating positive impact across the value chain  

by Creta Gambillara & Kaisa Toroskainen 

Within the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), the Circularity & Critical Minerals Advisory Group (CCMAG) serves as a dialogue platform to explore emerging trends shaping the battery value chain. Last week we kicked off the first CCMAG meeting of 2026 with the question: What does it take to make nature-positive business a reality in the battery sector, and how can the sector move from managing environmental risks to delivering nature-positive outcomes? 

Why this dialogue: Current debates about critical minerals are dominated by questions of access to resources and geopolitics. In this context, we must not forget that the extraction and processing of these minerals inevitably have an impact on people and the planet. This conversation explored how we can transition from managing risks to achieving positive outcomes across the entire value chain. At the heart of the GBA’s vision is the idea that sustainability must be measurable, transparent, and embedded across the full value chain. Tools like the GBA Battery Passport make this possible, tracking key ESG issues and sustainability indicators -initially focused on carbon and human rights, now expanding to the full scope of salient ESG impacts, including those on Nature. This creates a pathway from fragmented efforts to a shared system of accountability. 

Nature-positive approaches fully capture GBA’s theory of change of moving beyond risk control, to positive impacts on nature. Progressing from mitigating impacts at the site level, companies are beginning to consider how they can contribute to measurable improvements at landscape scale and across supply chains-restoring ecosystems, strengthening resilience, and addressing cumulative impacts beyond operational boundaries. 

“Nature-positive Business is about understanding dependency on Nature and how to balance the needs of the business with the need to preserve and rebuild the resilience and functionality of natural systems. It goes beyond compliance, at a high level, and is about asking what companies can do to become drivers of change and catalysts in the kind of sustainable growth the world needs: development with Nature and not at the expense of nature and the livelihoods that depend on it. - Dr. Helen Crowley, The Nature Positive Landscape Initiative 

Mining companies are central to this transition. Anglo American integrates biodiversity into core decision-making through the mitigation hierarchy and site-level, science-based management programs, while also engaging in landscape-scale partnerships. Measurement and transparency are key, with tools such as Quality Habitat Hectares and alignment with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) providing data downstream actors increasingly rely on. 

“Biodiversity, water systems, and community dynamics are closely interconnected. Without a holistic approach that considers these interdependencies, interventions are unlikely to succeed, and embedding the mitigation hierarchy early in project design is both more effective and cost-efficient.” - Joanna Kuntonen-van ‘t Riet, Anglo American Finland 

Similarly, Vale Base Metals is embedding nature into its business strategy, using the TNFD framework to assess dependencies, risks, and opportunities across its global operations. Its work highlights both the sensitivity of mining locations often in biodiversity-rich regions and the importance of integrating ecological and social considerations, including engagement with Indigenous communities. These upstream efforts shape the traceability and sustainability profile of materials entering the battery value chain. 

“Operating in regions with significant Indigenous presence underscores the need for strong engagement and for integrating social and ecological considerations into every aspect of operational planning - ensuring mining delivers value for communities, ecosystems, and business alike.” - Kirsten Hund, Head of Climate and Nature, Vale Base Metals 

Rising expectations from the battery industry and investors 

Action from mining companies is driven by requests from their clients: companies that use battery products for electric vehicles, energy storage, and other applications, who are increasingly raising expectations on addressing impacts on Nature. ENGIE Renewables is assessing nature-related risks across supply chains, identifying vulnerabilities such as water stress and geographic concentration of extraction and refining. Materials extracted in regions like Latin America or Africa and refined in countries such as China create complex, interconnected risks that companies must manage. While engagement on carbon has matured, biodiversity and ecosystem impacts remain less understood, with limited downstream visibility. 

“Improving transparency and traceability is becoming critical. Downstream actors need structured frameworks and guidance to ask the right questions, obtain meaningful data, and credibly demonstrate responsible, nature-positive supply chains.” - Sophie Fontayne, Sustainable Supply Chain Analyst, ENGIE Renewables 

As battery production is scaled, investors and stakeholders demand greater transparency, traceability, and credible risk management across the full value chain, including on Nature. Tools like the Battery Passport help downstream companies ask the right questions, access meaningful data, and align expectations with upstream suppliers. Demand for quantifiable indicators on nature risks and impacts-such as land use, forest and biodiversity restoration. When asked which indicators a framework like the Battery Passport should prioritise, “All of them!” was the spontaneous response from speakers. The GBA will work with like-minded organisations to progressively integrate quantitative metrics alongside qualitative benchmarks for Nature-related management systems. 

The missing link: scaling impact beyond operations 

RESOLVE presented innovative approaches which connect mining operations with landscape restoration, particularly at legacy mine sites, which contain both environmental liabilities and recoverable materials. This creates the potential to finance ecosystem restoration through mineral recovery and circular approaches. 

“Supply chains themselves can become a powerful mechanism to finance ecosystem restoration. By linking mineral demand to the recovery of legacy mining sites, restoration can be funded through value creation rather than relying solely on public or philanthropic capital.”  Carly Vinnie, Chief Program Officer, RESOLVE 

Projects initiated by Regeneration like the Headley in Canada or Salmon Gold  in Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and British Columbia demonstrate how degraded landscapes can deliver triple benefits: reducing the need for new extraction, creating social and economic value for communities, and generating measurable improvements in biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Emerging tools such as biodiversity credits aim to make these outcomes verifiable and scalable, linking restoration directly to supply chain demand. 

The role of policy and the question of cost 

A key discussion question was whether these approaches risk becoming an added cost for companies, especially in mineral rich countries where enabling regulatory and policy frameworks are still being developed. Should nature-positive practices remain voluntary, or be embedded in regulation? 

The dialogue highlighted that policy and practice must evolve together. Field-based approaches are essential to demonstrate what is feasible and effective in real-world contexts, while policy frameworks create a level playing field, ensuring responsible practices are not a competitive disadvantage but a shared baseline. For countries hosting critical mineral resources, this alignment ensures that the energy transition delivers local value alongside global benefits. 

Across the battery value chain, a clear theory of change is emerging toward resilient, nature-positive supply chains: 

• Mining companies in the upstream embed nature into operations and generate measurable outcomes.  

• Investors and buyers of batteries in the downstream drive demand for transparency, traceability, and responsible sourcing, including quantifiable metrics on nature-positive outcomes. 

• Civil society and partnerships enable innovation, restoration, and credibility at landscape level.  

• Tools like the GBA Battery Passport connect these efforts through shared metrics and data.  

Together, this creates a feedback loop moving the sector from risk management to value creation, strengthening ecological resilience and supply chain security.  

 

The next steps 

The discussion closed with reflections on next steps. There was a clear sense that this should not remain a one-off exchange. Offers were made to continue the conversation and return with updates as the work evolves. Participants agreed that continued dialogue across sectors, and between companies, civil society, investors, and standard-setting initiatives, will be essential if nature-positive ambitions are to move from concept to practice. Turning ambition into action means: 

• Translating ambition into pilots, fostering collaboration among companies and initiatives like The Nature Positive Landscapes Initiative to deliver measurable outcomes at landscape scale in key producing regions. 

• Advancing on nature-positive metrics – building on what the GBA Battery Passport can already deliver to assess ESG impacts and integrating new ones into the Battery Passport trials as a valuable pre-competitive space in which new frameworks, indicators, and approaches can be tested collaboratively.  

• Finally unlocking finance for restoration, by linking downstream demand to upstream projects, particularly in legacy mining landscapes.  

None of this happens in isolation. Progress depends on partnerships and dialogue across the value chain. Nature-positive approaches are evolving, with questions remaining open. But the direction is clear: the battery sector has a unique opportunity not only to power the energy transition but to deliver outcomes that are measurable, inclusive, and regenerative.