PR: KPMG and Circulor announce alliance to meet growing demand for digital battery passports

The global professional services firm KPMG and Circulor, the leading value chain traceability solution, announce a new alliance to offer a complete package that enables customers to trace, monitor and control critical raw materials throughout their battery and other industrial value chains, from extraction to the end of a product’s “first life” and beyond.

Circulor’s market-leading “digital battery passport” solution is a key enabler of a sustainable, responsible, and circular battery value chain and designed for full compliance with forthcoming EU regulatory requirements. The software tracks the physical flow of critical raw materials throughout the product life cycle, capturing key sustainability and product data and facilitating recovery and recycling efforts. Circulor’s approach can also support the automotive industry in proving the requirements of the U.S. Clean Vehicle Tax Credit.

The new alliance comes as global competition is sharply increasing for access to critical raw materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite. These materials, which are crucial components in digital and low carbon technologies, are linked to social and environmental concerns during extraction and processing. With global demand rising, many companies are seeking closer control over opaque supply chains and to boost recycling efforts to secure supplies and deliver on sustainability goals.

Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen said:

“Supply chain transparency is a business imperative. Consumers and regulators increasingly want to know that products are sourced responsibly and sustainably. By harnessing the dual strengths of KPMG and Circulor, companies can accelerate progress toward their sourcing goals, mitigate risks, build trust among stakeholders, and create clear differentiation to win in the market—today and in the future.” 

KPMG Sweden Sustainability Advisory Director Tim Gore said:

“Full traceability of raw materials is the key to building sustainable and circular battery value chains, to securing scarce supplies and winning the race to net zero. The lessons learned in batteries can be applied to every other industrial sector facing sustainability challenges and rising competition for raw materials.”

Andreas Halvarsson, Partner at KPMG Sweden, said:

“KPMG recognises the growing need and demand for traceability across the economy and offers Circulor’s solution as part of its wider sustainability and value chain advisory portfolio. KPMG will be the key point of contact for our clients, supporting them in implementing the Circulor platform and analysing their granular supply chain data to gain strategic foresight and operational value.”

Founded in 2017, Circulor offers the most mature, proven, and complete software solution to track the physical flow of materials from extraction to final product and through in-life and circular value chains. Circulor attributes to the product itself environmental, social, and governance (ESG) qualifications, Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, and other data inputs necessary for the EU Battery Regulation and U.S. Clean Vehicle Tax Credit.

The KPMG and Circulor alliance will expand beyond batteries to digital product passports and identifiers, supporting customers across industries to demonstrate responsible production and gain a competitive advantage.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The EU Battery Regulation was provisionally agreed in December 2022 and is due to enter into force in 2023. It sets a range of sustainability requirements for batteries placed on the EU market, including the requirement that each battery above a minimum threshold should be accompanied with a digital battery passport. Digital product passports will increasingly be required by EU regulations in other products too, including textiles, electronics and construction materials. More information is available here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_7588 

The U.S. Clean Vehicle Tax Credit was passed in September 2023 as part of the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act. The credit unlocks as much as $7,500 in consumer savings with proof that an electric vehicle fulfils requirements that certain percentages of critical minerals and battery components within the vehicle have been extracted, processed, manufactured and/or recycled in North America and within U.S. Free Trade Agreement countries. More detailed tracking will be required in January 1, 2025, in parallel with the credit’s full expansion of its Foreign Entity of Concern provision. More information is available here: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1379

Circulor is an alliance partner of KPMG in Sweden.