On 18 December 2024, the World Trade Organization (WTO) advised that its Secretariat and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had jointly launched a database on trade in critical minerals to enhance transparency and support the clean energy transition. The database provides information on trade flows, visualises trade networks and specialisation patterns and compiles data on tariffs and other trade policies for 250 critical minerals and related products across value chains.
The Trade in Critical Minerals (TiCM) database, unveiled by the ADB and the WTO Secretariat on 20 November at the Trade and Investment House at the COP29 climate change conference in Baku, provides in one place up-to-date critical minerals trade data, related policies, and visualisations of trade patterns based on publicly available sources. Bilateral trade and tariff data are at the Harmonized System (HS) subheading level and are sourced from WTO Analytical Databases. Trade policies are sourced from the WTO Trade Monitoring Database and the ePing trade measures platform, with links to HS codes. Data can be visualised as bar charts, tree maps, and network graphs, providing insights into the main trading partners, product specialisation, and trade networks.
Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements are used to produce batteries, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, making them essential for the transition to clean energy. Therefore, they play an important role in objectives such as the tripling of renewable energy capacity and the doubling of energy efficiency by 2030.
The joint effort by ADB and the WTO Secretariat aims to enhance transparency regarding critical minerals-related trade and policies across value chains, fostering collaboration and supporting well-informed decision-making by policymakers and other stakeholders. The initiative will contribute to developing sustainable, inclusive and resilient critical minerals supply chains for the clean energy transition.