The International Lithium Association (ILiA) has launched the first guidance that provides the global lithium industry with a standardised approach to calculating the carbon footprint of producing lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and other lithium products.

“It is important to have product carbon footprint (PCF) methodology that is consistent across the globe to allow for the accurate calculation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and for making meaningful comparisons,” said Anand Sheth, ILiA’s Founding Chairman.

The guidance was created under the stewardship of Mark de Boer, Vice President of Sustainability at Albemarle Corporation and chair of ILiA’s Sustainable Lithium Subcommittee. The project received input from 45 organisations across the lithium industry, including leading service provider in the lithium LCA space Minviro, which also led the standard development for the rare earth and graphite sectors.

Laurens Tijsseling of Minviro explained: “The introduction of a product carbon footprint (PCF) guideline marks a significant advancement for the lithium industry, offering a unified framework to assess the carbon footprints of various lithium production processes accurately. This breakthrough enhances transparency and consistency in carbon footprint calculations across various lithium deposit types and production routes, positioning the industry at the forefront of sustainable practices. The PCF also lays the groundwork for broader LCA harmonisation, potentially encompassing a wider range of environmental impacts.”

PCFs are used to compare product industries and sometimes make claims. Therefore, the calculations behind PCFs must be based on the same starting points, principles and interpretation of standards contextualised to the lithium industry. Standardised PCFs can even be used as a metric in (future) legislation requiring a uniform calculation method.

In the research article by Minviro’s team members Laurens Tijsseling and Robert Pell, supported by collaborators Alex Grant and David Deak in 2020, you can read one of the first publications from our team about the importance of a standardised approach for lithium, where we at that time pointed out “...to ensure that studies are consistent and comparable, a product rule needs to be developed by an independent LCA-focused professional organisation.” It is exciting that ILiA has brought together those organisations and the PCF is a first step in a harmonised approach to LCAs.  

The lithium industry and its stakeholders made the lithium PCF guidance and are agnostic to the production route. Given the broad participation and compliance with existing, more general standards, ILiA expects this guidance to become the leading reference for anyone determining the PCF of a lithium product.

“While ILiA is proud to present this first-of-its-kind PCF guidance for the lithium industry, we also recognize that this is an iterative process and that some aspects, such as lithium recycling, need to be addressed in a subsequent edition. That is part of the standard-setting process, and we hope that you will join us for the journey!” Mark de Boer.

The guidance is available for download at www.lithium.org

About ILiA

ILiA is the not-for-profit global industry association for the lithium value chain. It was established in 2021 by leading lithium producers to support the industry. Today the Association’s Core Members between them supply 85% of the lithium available on the market. ILiA also has over 60 Associate Members which span new mining projects, chemical specialists including active battery materials, engineers, specialist service providers and recyclers. Membership is open to the entire value chain.

About Drielsma Resources

Drielsma Resources Europe provides advisory, project management and independent review services covering environmental policy and legislation, mining, raw materials, and sustainability.

Organisations that worked on the Lithium PCF guidance

Albemarle Corporation, Apeiron, Arcadium Lithium, Aurora Lith S.A., BASC, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Botree Recycling Technologies, CAEM, CRU, Curtin University, EU Lithium Institute, FLSmidth, Imerys, ioneer, ILiA, Irkutsk Oil Company LLC, Jaguar Land Rover, Kolibri, KU Leuven, Lithium Ark Holding B.V., Loyal Lithium, Minviro, Northvolt, Piedmont Lithium, Pilbara Minerals, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, PowerCo SE, Project Blue, Rio Tinto, Rockwell Automation, Skarn, Sphera, SQM, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Technical University Crete, Tesla, Tianqi Lithium Corporation, Universidad Católica de Salta, University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Exeter, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Twente, Wood Mackenzie, World Bank, Yibin Tianyi Lithium Industry Co., Ltd