The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat have introduced a new database, the Trade in Critical Minerals (TiCM), to provide comprehensive information on critical minerals trade. Launched on November 20 at the COP29 climate change conference in Baku, this resource offers updated data, policies, and visualizations related to critical minerals.
The TiCM database compiles bilateral trade and tariff data at the Harmonized System (HS) sub-heading level from WTO Analytical Databases. It also incorporates trade policies from the WTO Trade Monitoring Database and the ePing trade measures platform, complete with links to HS codes. Users can visualize data through bar charts, tree maps, and network graphs to gain insights into trading partners, product specialization, and trade networks.
Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements are vital for manufacturing batteries, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. These materials are crucial for advancing clean energy initiatives like tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030.
This collaboration between ADB and the WTO Secretariat seeks to improve transparency in critical minerals-related trade and policies across value chains. The initiative is designed to foster collaboration among stakeholders and support informed decision-making by policymakers. Ultimately, it aims to contribute to developing sustainable, inclusive, and resilient supply chains for critical minerals essential for transitioning to clean energy.