Battery chain puts lithium’s green credentials under microscope

A group backed by German car-making giants Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG has started a study into the environmental impact of lithium mining in Chile, the second-largest supplier of the key ingredient in rechargeable batteries.

GIZ, the German development agency running the initiative, is looking into how pumping up lithium-laced brine from beneath the Atacama salt flat is impacting local water supplies and communities. The project will last about two and a half years, a spokeswoman said.

It’s the latest effort by the global battery-supply chain to address growing concern among investors and the general public over the sustainability of industries that will produce the building blocks for the clean-energy transformation.