Filling Key Data Gaps for the Just Energy Transition: A Spotlight on Critical Raw Material Value Chains

Closed-door, interactive expert roundtable – small, practical and outcome-driven

In this session, Climate & Company and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) will explore how to scale the data backbone for more resilient and sustainable value chains in the energy sector. We will share early insights from a scoping study on the Indonesia-China-Europe nickel value chain. And we will present for the first time Climate & Company’s prototype of a Mining Monitor, tracing critical raw materials (CRM) to their origin, the mines. Based on this novel evidence, we will discuss where key data gaps keep companies and financial institutions from taking informed sourcing and investment decisions and sketch pathways to address these gaps.

Why is this session so important?

The global energy transition depends on CRM such as nickel, copper, and lithium. The demand is rising rapidly. However, the risks, often concentrated in emerging markets, are not visible enough. As a result, decision-makers downstream in the value chain lack reliable information to understand production impacts and how these have been contributing substantially to supply chain disruptions. As a result, sourcing decisions, investment strategies, and policy frameworks are drawing on an inadequate data basis.

“Not a rock-solid policy”, European Court of Auditors, Special Report 04/2026

The EU’s own auditors have delivered a stark verdict on the Critical Raw Materials Act: blind spots in supply chain data are undermining the EU’s ability to track progress, guide investment, and secure the materials its green transition depends on. Join us at LCAW to explore how reporting and smarter data tools can help close the gap

These gaps are unlikely to be fully addressed by regulation alone in the near term, particularly as requirements on supply chain (Scope 3) reporting remain limited, At the same time, decades of development in reporting standards, including the GRI Standards (such as the Mining Sector Standard and Climate Change Standard), have created a substantial pool of data on key impacts and risks in CRM value chains. The challenge is thus not the absence of data, but that it remains fragmented, difficult to access, and insufficiently standardised for use by downstream decision-makers.

Addressing fragmentation and usability challenges in sustainability data thus requires better alignment across regulations and reporting frameworks, targeted capacity-building, and a robust data infrastructure that connects and integrates different data sources. Together, these elements can turn impact data into actionable transparency that informs decisions and strengthens the sustainability and resilience of CRM supply chains.

Discussion points

• Where does data currently “break” along critical raw material value chains?
• What do downstream companies, investors, and policymakers need to act on value chain information?
• How can existing risk and impact data sources be better integrated and help reduce information asymmetries between upstream and downstream players?
• How can reporting be better linked to traceability, sourcing decisions, and investment strategies?
• What are realistic entry points for improving data usability in the near term?
• How can capacity-building (for companies and policymakers) strengthen the use of impact data?
• What role can funders play in moving from scoping to pilot implementation?

About the collaboration

Climate & Company and GRI bring complementary expertise across standard-setting, capacity-building, policy, research and implementation. Together, they are exploring how impact reporting can evolve from a disclosure exercise into a practical tool that supports decision-making across global value chains – starting with critical raw materials.