The new OECD report Enhancing Resilience through Traceability: Insights from Lithium and Nickel Supply Chains in Latin America and Southeast Asia provides analysis and a policy roadmap to support mineral producing and consuming countries to encourage supply chain transparency while fostering investment, responsible sourcing and good governance.
This report comes as demand rises for critical minerals like lithium and nickel, which are essential for national defence, digital technologies and renewable energy. Despite this, global investment in the sector is lagging due to operational and governance risks.
Supporting the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan, Enhancing Resilience through Traceability draws on an OECD-IEA business survey of 90 leading companies across critical mineral value chains, as well as stakeholder interviews and field research in Argentina, Chile, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The analysis finds:
- Private-sector adoption of traceability is accelerating: Nearly three-quarters of surveyed companies plan to increase investment in traceability systems.
- Industry is already improving supply chain visibility: Companies increasingly rely on supply chain mapping, audits and mass-balance approaches to enhance transparency, even where full end-to-end traceability is not yet feasible.
- Customer demand and reputation are major drivers: More than 60% of respondents cite brand reputation and customer expectations as primary motivations for adopting traceability systems, with regulatory compliance close behind.
- Significant barriers remain: Over half of surveyed companies identify implementation costs and lack of interoperability between systems as key obstacles. Concerns around confidentiality, supplier leverage and data quality also limit progress.
- Businesses are calling for greater cross-border policy alignment: Half of respondents identify regulatory consistency as the top priority for scaling traceability, with many also highlighting the need for shared data infrastructure.
The report also provides a roadmap that helps policymakers to identify where traceability is needed and equips them to effectively implement traceability measures where necessary.
Contact Minerals@OECD.org with any queries.
