Yesterday Circulor announced a deal with commodity trader Trafigura to provide CO2 emissions tracking for its nickel and cobalt trading division. Both metals are used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Circulor already has extensive ties to the auto sector, with Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo as investors and Mercedes and Polestar as clients.
Additionally, Circulor is working on Trafigura’s responsible sourcing initiative to provide ESG transparency.
“Trafigura has invested significantly in developing tools to identify and mitigate social and human rights risks and environmental impacts, including carbon emissions, in global commodity supply chains,” said Jeremy Weir, Trafigura’s Executive Chairman and CEO.
“Circulor’s offering is tried-and-tested and their expertise and market reach are internationally respected.”
The British startup already has some relationships in Trafigura’s supply chain, such as the Finnish Minerals Group, which was announced in April.
Another Circulor client and investor is the giant Australian mining firm BHP. Yesterday it announced that BHP Chile had delivered copper to the US-based wire manufacturer Southwire. It claims it’s the first carbon-neutral copper transaction and was tracked with the help of Circulor’s blockchain.
BHP also trialed the Minehub blockchain platform in 2020. That solution initially focused on supply chain workflow and efficiencies but has since extended into sustainability transparency.
Earlier this year, Circulor raised a $14 million Series A round, led by Westly Group with participation from Salesforce Ventures and four other investment firms.
A number of organizations have chosen to use blockchain in the commodities sector. In May, Glencore announced its new blockchain platform Re|Source in association with China Molybdenum Co and Eurasian Resources Group. They are also targeting cobalt traceability.
Meanwhile, nickel supplier Nornickel has embraced blockchain for multiple applications, including responsible sourcing as a member of IBM’s network and tokenizing commodity assets on the blockchain as part of TokenTrust. It also partnered with Finish EV battery producer Johnson Matthey to explore blockchain tokenization in the supply chain.