With increasing global demand for critical materials, the call for greater transparency in global supply chains and markets – including data availability – has been growing. The global transition to renewable energy relies on a rapidly expanding and uninterrupted supply of these critical materials for manufacturing renewable energy technologies, energy storage systems and electric vehicles (EVs). Establishing a more unified, open and transparent data repository for critical materials supply chains could support more effective governance. Without such a repository, decision-makers may be less informed about critical materials markets, potentially slowing the supply of materials to international markets and hindering the deployment of renewable energy.