SQM and Circulor provide end-to-end lithium traceability, enabling attribution of upstream activity to EV batteries
Santiago, Chile 22 February 2023 – Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM), one of the world’s largest producers of lithium and lithium derivatives, collaborates with Circulor, the leading supply chain traceability solution, to deliver traceability for lithium from source to the final product, making such information available to downstream automakers, including Volvo Cars.
In its mission to develop and produce diverse products essential for human progress, SQM continues to incorporate innovation and technology to ensure it’s working to fulfill the highest standards in sustainable and responsible stewardship. In line with this ethos, SQM and Circulor began their work together last year to set a new standard for end-to-end lithium supply chain traceability, responding to growing demand from downstream customers for visibility into upstream provenance and activity.
In addition to following SQM lithium from Chile to the final EV battery, Circulor also provides dynamic tracking of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions produced by each supply chain participant. This data is attributed to the flow of materials and provides SQM and its downstream customers with greater accuracy of the product’s embedded CO2-e footprint.
By sharing greater granularity about its products, SQM plays a critical role in helping customers make visible their supply chains. With this visibility comes the opportunity for companies to focus their decarbonization efforts and ensure compliance with regulations, such as the EU Battery Regulation and the U.S. Clean Vehicle Tax Credit.
“SQM welcomes this initiative to further collaborate with our downstream customers to ensure supply chain transparency”, said Ricardo Ramos, CEO of SQM. “We are fully committed to responsible production, and this adds to our existing sustainability credentials, which include IRMA certification and online salar monitoring. We have the lowest CO2 and water footprint of any lithium producer in the world, and Circulor’s technology will now enable us to demonstrate this at every stage of the value chain.”
“Collaboration is key to achieving true supply chain transparency”, said Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen. “We are proud to work with SQM in pioneering full lithium traceability as we work toward greater sustainability, resiliency, and making such information available to automakers and their end customers.”
ENDS
PRESS CONTACTS:
Circulor
Alycia MacAskill / Suhara Jayasena
+44 20 7930 0777
SQM
Ignacia López
+56 992 767 937
Stefan Debruyne
+32 473 860 462
ABOUT CIRCULOR:
Circulor gives organizations full visibility of their supply chains. The London-based company offers the most mature, proven, and complete technology software solution available to track materials with high environmental and human rights impacts as they change state within manufacturing and recycling supply chains. With Circulor, businesses can follow the physical flow of critical materials from extraction to final production, as well as associated ESG characteristics and embedded carbon across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. The tech company was founded in 2017 in the UK, with offices in the US, Germany, Ireland, Singapore, and Australia. The company has been named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, Global Cleantech 100, and won DIGITALEUROPE’s 2022 Future Unicorn Award.
ABOUT SQM:
SQM, a global mining company operating in northern Chile, is present in industries that are strategic for sustainable development, such as health, food, technology, and the clean energies that move the world. It is a global leader in each of its five business lines: Specialty Plant Nutrition; Iodine and Derivatives; Lithium and Derivatives; Potassium and Solar Salts. Its lithium business supplied ~20% of the global lithium produced in 2022.
On its 52nd anniversary and in keeping with its corporate values of Excellence, Safety, Integrity, and Sustainability, SQM has moved decisively on innovation and technological development. It has adapted its production, commercial, logistics, and management processes to the different conditions of the global market, ensuring operational continuity under high sustainability parameters. As a result, it obtains better results and creates more value for its customers, shareholders, and the environment where it operates.