No single scheme traces a battery cell from mine to car, so 3 separate layers do the job instead

No single scheme reaches all the way

Getting a battery from a mine into a car runs through 3 separate voluntary systems, not 1. Each is run by a different kind of organisation, and each covers a different part of the chain. Reaching from the pit to the finished cell means stacking all 3.

The mine level, IRMA

The first layer checks the mine itself. The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, known as IRMA, began independently auditing mines in the middle of 2019. It scores a mine across 4 rising levels, from an unscored entry level called IRMA Transparency up through IRMA 50, IRMA 75 and IRMA 100, then returns to check the same mine again every 3 years. A mine can still carry minor unresolved problems at the 2 lower scored levels if it has a plan to fix them, but not once it reaches IRMA 100.

The refinery level, RMAP

The second layer checks what happens after the ore leaves the mine. The Responsible Minerals Assurance Process, known as RMAP, audits the smelters and refiners that turn raw ore into refined metal, a different stop in the chain from both the mine and the finished battery. It is run by the Responsible Minerals Initiative, a group of more than 500 member companies that has existed since 2008. An audit under this process checks a company sourcing paperwork and management system, not the metal itself. A pass means a company can show where it says its metal came from. It does not mean anybody tested the shipment.

The software that ties it to 1 car

The third layer connects those 2 audits to a specific vehicle. A company called Circulor builds software that follows an audited batch of material through processing and into a named battery. The clearest working example is the Salar de Atacama lithium operation in Chile, run by SQM, which reached IRMA 75 on June 12, 2023. Circulor tied that result to material that reached specific battery cells fitted to the Volvo EX90, which launched on June 4, 2024, as what Volvo and Circulor call the first production car carrying a full battery passport, a digital record of where the materials in a battery came from. That passport covers 4 minerals, cobalt, nickel, graphite and lithium, across more than 145 suppliers in the Circulor network.

Our decision to commit our lithium mining operation to an IRMA audit reflects our desire to constantly improve.

Carlos Diaz, executive vice president for lithium at SQM, the company that operates the mine. Source 5.

We are sourcing sustainable, responsible, and transparent lithium, as audited by IRMA.

Ann Sofie Ekberg, chief executive of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund. Source 5.

A wider plan still years away

Above these 3 layers, the Global Battery Alliance is trying to build 1 wider reporting and certification scheme for the whole industry. The alliance, a coalition of governments, companies and civil society groups, was founded in 2017. Companies covering 80% of the world electric vehicle battery market took part in its 2024 pilot, and 17 company consortia joined its 2026 Operational Trials. The alliance is aiming to launch its own Battery Passport scheme in 2027, its own target date. A separate European Union law will require a digital passport on every battery sold in the bloc by February 2027.

None of these systems is brand new. Counted to 2026, the refinery audits have been running for 18 years, the mine level audits for 7, and the effort to build 1 wider scheme on top of them for 9.