Benchmark launches a 'sustainable' lithium price index 29th Nov...

Benchmark launches a 'sustainable' lithium price index 29th Nov '23 (tomorrow) to keeps the f*k*rs honest
https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/benchmark-to-launch-sustainable-lithium-carbonate-pricing

Benchmark to launch sustainable lithium carbonate pricing

Benchmark will launch a Sustainable Lithium Carbonate, CIF Asia, spot price this month, in response to growing demand from the lithium ion battery supply chain for pricing which takes into account the sustainability credentials of the products under assessment.

The new price will be assessed by Benchmark using primary data collected directly from active market participants, only considering transactions for material that originates from producers deemed by Benchmark to be Industry Leading, according to the Benchmark’s Lithium Sustainability Index. It will begin on the 29th November.

Benchmark’s Lithium Sustainability Index is published quarterly in the Benchmark Lithium ESG Report, and measures an array of indicators categorised under environmental, social and governance components to form a composite score.

Producers who score above 70 are deemed “Industry Leading” by Benchmark.

As with all other lithium grades under assessment, transactional price data is collected directly from active buyers and sellers in the market. Benchmark will only use price data for material traded on a spot basis and will publish the Sustainable Lithium Carbonate price on alternate Wednesdays.

Benchmark has noted increasing efforts from lithium producers to exhibit transparency around their sustainability credentials, combined with a desire by downstream consumers to ensure material they procure meets company by company ESG-friendly requirements

As such, market participants have requested new indexes to help with greater transparency around more ESG compliant material, to be used to support contract negotiations between buyers and sellers that consider more than just the underlying price of lithium chemicals.

“In an industry first, we are pleased to launch Benchmark’s Sustainable Lithium Carbonate price grade as part of our market leading Lithium Price Assessment,” Daniel Fletcher-Manuel, head of prices, data and indices at Benchmark, said.

“With a rapidly growing focus on ESG compliant battery chemicals across the industry its great to leverage Benchmark’s expertise from its Sustainability Division to further evolve our price assessment methodology.”

“Allowing users of our price assessment to accurately identify new price trends in the market is a key role that Benchmark plays as the lithium ion battery industry’s leading Price Reporting Agency,” he said. “This new sustainable lithium grade further highlights our commitment to constantly adapting along with the supply chain, shining a light on the previously opaque role that sustainability considerations play in pricing lithium chemicals.”

“We’re pleased to announce the release of this industry-first Sustainable Lithium price, which utilises Benchmark’s Lithium Sustainability Index to identify highly scored companies in terms of ESG disclosures, performance and transparency in the sector,” Charlotte Selvey-Miller, head of sustainability at Benchmark, said.

“Although not identified as a ‘green premium’, this is the first step in identifying price trends within the Sustainability Index’s Industry Leading category of lithium companies,” she said.

“The Sustainability Index identifies 79 key environmental, social and governance factors which are used to analyse the industry on a company-by-company basis, all underlined by our stakeholder-informed materiality assessment. This gives a deeper, holistic perspective of the risks and topics that are key to be addressed by companies during this poignant time of the energy transition,” Selvey-Miller said.

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