'Cobalt Rush: The Future of Going Green' Movie Screening

Join us for a special film night in Brussels on November 17th! The EEB and Resource Matters will be screening "Cobalt Rush: The Future of Going Green," a documentary on the cobalt rush in the DRC. Space is limited, so book your spot now!

The Hidden Cost of Cobalt

Indispensable to industry—particularly for the manufacture of batteries used in electric vehicles—cobalt has become a highly strategic mineral. From the Democratic Republic of Congo to Scandinavia, this remarkable investigation explores the hidden side of its extraction.

To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the European Union has decided to ban the sale of new vehicles with combustion or hybrid engines from 2035. This poses a major challenge for the continent’s automotive industry, which must accelerate the development of 100% electric cars and light commercial vehicles.

Cobalt, in combination with lithium, nickel, and manganese, ensures the stability of battery cells and prevents them from burning. With the rapid growth of electric mobility, this by-product of copper mining has become increasingly strategic.

The world’s largest copper deposits are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly in the provinces of Lualaba and Haut-Katanga. While foreign investors—mainly Chinese—control about three-quarters of industrial mining sites, around 20% of the mines are artisanal, concentrated around the town of Kolwezi. Sometimes less than a decade old, these small-scale operations employ “diggers” who risk their lives in makeshift tunnels for miserable pay.

In its quest for sovereignty and to reduce dependence on China’s near-monopoly in battery supply chains, Europe is encouraging the expansion of domestic mining projects to feed the battery production lines it plans to develop.

A Battery of Nuisances

Acid pollution of soils and waterways, land expropriation from farmers and herders, child labor, and corruption in the granting of mining permits—these are just some of the dark sides of cobalt extraction in the DRC. Each electric car battery requires around 10 kilograms of cobalt, and the race to secure it has unleashed a host of social and environmental crises.

In Scandinavia, where Europe’s main cobalt deposits have been identified, it is the environmental risks that worry local populations.

By giving a voice to industrialists, European policymakers such as Maros Šefčovič, NGOs, and human rights and environmental activists, this investigation sheds light on the hidden face of a strategic market—one whose demand is set to grow exponentially in pursuit of Europe’s dream of carbon neutrality.