This story by Safa originally appeared on Global Voices on October 5, 2025.
When people talk about “natural” versus “artificial,” there is an assumption that technology sits on the artificial side, but the elements and materials it is made from come from the earth and are handled by many people.
What really is “natural,” after all? “It is impossible to talk about a green energy transitioning world without these minerals,” said humanist, leader and speaker Kave Bulambo in a 2024 speech. “When you start to dig deep to try and understand this equation, you realize that under this shiny Big Tech movement lies a world of exploitation for men, women, and even children laboring in cobalt mines in the [Democratic Republic of] Congo.”
It would be disingenuous to attempt to disentangle the human rights abuses connected to creating technologies from their environmental impacts. Siddarth Kara, a researcher of modern-day slavery, discussed the environmental impacts of cobalt mining: “Millions of trees have been cut down, the air around mines is hazy with dust and grit, and the water has been contaminated with toxic effluents from the mining processing.”
Cobalt is a stone that has an almost eerie blue color — for centuries, it has been used in the arts. It has also become essential for the manufacturing of rechargeable batteries — like those that enable smartphones, laptops, electric cars, and more. Cobalt is just one of the natural resources powering the “green energy revolution.” But this important stone can be toxic to touch and breathe, especially in high doses.
Large deposits of cobalt have been found in the DRC, accounting for over 70 percent of the world’s reserves. To understand the harmful effects of cobalt mining in the DRC, it is essential to consider its colonial history. Continued exploitation of the country’s resources persisted, even after it gained formal independence in 1960, leaving a legacy that continues to shape the country’s mining sector today. Kolwezi, a city in the DRC, was built by Belgium under an apartheid-style system of urban segregation, and now has many large open-pit mines situated in and around its periphery.
Both multinational companies with concessions and artisanal miners are involved in cobalt mining in the DRC, though industrial mines now dominate the region. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) remains widespread, with thousands of informal miners working in dangerous conditions to extract cobalt by hand. Kara described how so-called “artisanal miners” — including children — are digging for cobalt: “The bottom of the supply chain, where almost all the world's cobalt is coming from, is a horror show.”
What comes to mind when you think of something “artisanal?” It is probably not informal workers digging in hazardous, often toxic conditions, either earning a subsistence income for their families or working in small groups to extract minerals for commercial sale. “Artisanal” has a meaning of small-scale and handmade, which is true in a sense for the work of “artisanal miners.” But the term ‘artisanal’ is evocative of a quaint neighborhood farmers’ market or traditional handmade cheese or soap — not of children and adults digging toxic stones from the ground with their bare hands at gunpoint.
The term partly comes from its low-tech nature, as it involves individuals mining deposits that are either unprofitable, unsafe, or otherwise unsuitable for large-scale large-scale mining companies companies. Yet, artisanal mining is far from small-scale. Over 100 million people worldwide are engaged in or rely on the income it generates. While it may seem more wholesome than industrial mining, an industry with one of the worst track records for human rights abuses, artisanal mining often lacks environmental and worker safeguards, as well as protections for women’s and children’s rights.
This form of mining is common in Kolwezi, especially in areas where people have been displaced by large-scale mining projects. Despite attempts to formalise the sector, informal mining persists, with reports of “Creuseurs” (translated as “diggers,” as they are known locally) continuing to dig under their homes or in newly “illegal sites outside the formal mine boundaries. As one miner, Edmond Kalenga, put it: “The minerals are like a snake moving through the village. You just follow the snake”.
A 2022 Amnesty International report detailed several case studies of human rights abuses at three sites where they used documentary evidence, satellite images, and interviews with former residents to determine that people had been forcibly evicted from their homes, in the name of energy transition mining. Forced evictions constitute a fundamental breach of human rights, and lead to loss of livelihood, and the loss of other human rights such as access to basic services, including health and education. The forced evictions occurred as part of the government's efforts to formalize the mining sector, carried out in collaboration with mining companies. People living close to polluted mines are exposed to severe health risks. The DRC mining region is one of the 10 most polluted areas in the world. Research suggests a correlation between exposure to heavy metals such as cobalt and birth defects, and children have been found with a high concentration of cobalt in their urine.
In addition to the human rights violations already mentioned, the innumerable environmental and health costs are interconnected, with issues such as biodiversity loss, pollution (air, soil, water), and the socio-economic consequences of job insecurity, violence, and loss of livelihoods. These impacts also lead to further challenges, including displacement, gender-based violence, and the erosion of cultural knowledge. Diamonds are not the only conflict mineral; as you can see, cobalt is among the many minerals which are extracted through degrading means, with devastating results.
Companies that make lithium batteries, such as Tesla, occasionally respond to public calls for supply chain transparency; however, as demand for cobalt grows, businesses involved in battery manufacturing must pay attention to ethical and human rights issues along the entire supply chain. Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla have all been accused of purchasing cobalt which was gathered by means of forced labor, and deliberately obscuring their dependence on child labor — including those in extreme poverty.
While the US court found that companies purchasing from suppliers were not responsible for the practices of suppliers, further doubts have already been raised against Apple. “It is a major paradox of the digital era that some of the world’s richest, most innovative companies are able to market incredibly sophisticated devices without being required to show where they source raw materials for their components,” said Emmanuel Umpula, executive director of Afrewatch (Africa Resources Watch).
The European Parliament has voted in a law that large companies are obliged to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence — a step towards holding corporations accountable for rights violations of their suppliers. But supply chains themselves are not necessarily reliable narrators. In the case of cobalt, suppliers may put the child-labor cobalt together with the child-labor-free cobalt in refineries, making it difficult or even impossible to trace. Furthermore, child-labor free cobalt does not necessarily mean it is free of human exploitation and jarring conditions. For more in-depth information on due diligence and accountability in the DRC’s mining sector, the Carter Center highlights several key recommendations.
Our energy consumption will only continue to increase with developments like ChatGPT, cryptocurrencies, and faster internet. One researcher found that using generative AI to create one image uses as much energy as charging a smartphone. A report by Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment firm, found that one AI-powered search used 10 times more electricity than a regular search. Both Google and Microsoft have self-reported that their carbon emissions have grown as a result of AI. With water and food scarcity being real-world threats and an ever-warming climate, how long will the planet be able to sustain these systems? When we finally take a critical look at the nature that’s powering our screens, we may see its poisonous impacts on people and the planet.
(NS)
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