Social issues and digital battery passports: the case of electric vehicle batteries

Digital Product Passports are intended to disclose sustainability information along product value chains, supporting sustainable product management and enabling circular value chains. However, whereas environmental aspects are widely represented in current passport conceptualizations, social issues remain insufficiently integrated, creating a critical gap for electric vehicle batteries. This study addresses that gap by identifying and prioritizing social data point requirements for a Digital Battery Passport for electric vehicle batteries and by introducing the concept of a social sustainability delta to reveal misalignments between regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations. A multi-method design was employed, combining a systematic literature review and five expert workshops, with qualitative content analysis used to synthesize and triangulate findings across three stakeholder perspectives: policymakers, researchers, and industry experts. The results indicate that current regulations emphasize narrow social disclosures (e.g., responsible sourcing) while omitting salient issues across the battery value chain. Stakeholders consistently prioritize worker health and safety, labour rights, fair wages, and community engagement, with marked differences among perspectives captured by the social sustainability delta. The study provides targeted social data point requirements for inclusion in a Digital Battery Passport and clarifies their implications for governance and practice. The findings inform the conceptualization of Digital Product Passports and Digital Battery Passports, support sustainable product management in electric vehicle battery value chains, and advance the social sustainability discourse by identifying context-sensitive priorities across stakeholder groups. Ultimately, integrating these social data points into a Digital Battery Passport contributes to more holistic and socially responsible management of electric vehicle battery value chains.