Brazilian miner Vale has won a contract to supply nickel products produced with a lower carbon footprint to Swedish battery startup Northvolt.

Vale said the agreement was "multi-year", and the "product of over two years of negotiation", but gave no further details.

Vale Canada will provide the low-carbon nickel -rounds from the company's Long Harbour refinery in Newfoundland, Canada, have a verified carbon footprint of 4.4 tonnes CO2 equivalent per tonne of nickel - about one-third the Nickel Institute average for Class 1 nickel.

Vale noted that has pledged to invest between US$4 billion and US$6 billion to cut absolute carbon emissions 33% by 2030, as part of efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Vale will also reduce 15% of its value-chain emissions by 2035. Northvolt's ambition is to raise the sustainability bar for battery producers with a plan to reduce carbon emissions by up to 90% compared to benchmark batteries today, primarily by leveraging clean energy in production and recycling.

"This supply agreement is another strategic milestone as we pivot our business towards electric vehicle demand," said Deshnee Naidoo, Vale's executive vice president of Base Metals. "We're excited to build a lasting relationship with Northvolt that raises the bar on sustainably sourced raw materials for this fast-growing sector."

Maria Åstrand, Northvolt's Vice President Active Materials, commented: "Northvolt was founded with the mission to build the world's greenest battery to enable the transition to electrification. We want to build batteries with a minimal CO2 footprint using clean energy and smart technology. This partnership is perfect for us to be able to reach that ambition. We are further excited by the prospect of closing the loop with the electrification of the nickel mining industry through our mutual partners that provides electric mining equipment."