January 17, 2025: A global database to help tackle soaring demand for minerals to power the green energy transition has been launched by the Asian Development Bank in partnership with the World Trade Organization.

The Trade in Critical Minerals database is designed to track the availability and extraction of key battery minerals including lithium and cobalt and help identify opportunities for reducing the environmental footprint of their mining and processing.

Unveiled at the COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan on November 20, the database provides information on trade flows, allows visualizations of trade networks and specialization patterns and compiles data on tariffs and other trade policies for 250 critical minerals and related products.

The bank and the WTO said the joint effort aims to enhance transparency and support well-informed decision-making by policymakers and others.

The move came as the bank signed an $820 million loan to provide construction financing for a portfolio of 12 renewable energy projects across Thailand

Under the deal with the Gulf Renewable Energy Company, announced on November 28, the loan will finance eight ground-mounted solar photovoltaic plants with contracted capacity of 393MW and four ground-mounted solar PV plants with battery energy storage with contracted capacity of 256MW and 396 MWh of energy storage.