Whether you’re using a cellphone or an electric vehicle, there’s a good chance that the battery inside it contains cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In fact, it’s estimated that over 70% of the world’s cobalt comes from Congolese mines, but the growth of that industry has come at a human cost.

“In many ways, the working conditions in these mines are unregulated,” said Adam Mahoney, a reporter at Capital B. According to Mahoney, in order to compete with China’s EV production, the United States has come to rely on “artisanal” cobalt mines, which are often unregulated. “It’s driving hundreds of thousands of Congolese people into these very dangerous tunnels where thousands of people are dying every year as they collapse.”

Black labor unions and activist groups in the U.S. have attempted to bring attention to the crisis and build solidarity with the miners. Mahoney wrote about this effort.

“Under the Biden administration, there’s obviously been a very concerted effort, billions of dollars being invested, into building out the infrastructure to produce electric vehicles. We’ve seen that roughly 7% to 10% of workers within the clean energy space are Black,” said Mahoney. “Black workers, Black unions are making this connection that in the United States, they’re still getting crumbs, while at the same time across the globe, Black workers are being exploited for this push.”

“Marketplace” host Amy Scott spoke with Mahoney about the effort to build solidarity across the Atlantic. The following is a transcript of their conversation.

Amy Scott: Let’s start with what’s happening in the DRC and the role that it plays in this energy transition. Talk about the situation there.

Adam Mahoney: I mean, in many ways, the DRC is the world’s richest country when we’re thinking about natural resources. And one of those biggest resources is cobalt rocks, which are found deep underground and are needed to power pretty much any battery that we’re using on a daily basis, whether it be from our laptop or our phones, and now electric vehicles. Over the last 20 years or so, there’s been an explosion in workers digging and working in these tunnels and mines, so that has been driving that push.

Scott: And can you talk about the conditions in these mines?

Mahoney: In many ways, the working conditions in these mines are unregulated. And it’s driving hundreds of thousands of Congolese people into these very dangerous tunnels where thousands of people are dying every year, as [the tunnels] collapse, and working under horrendous conditions. One of the most horrific aspects of it is the fact that, you know, of the estimated 250,000 Congolese miners, roughly 40,000 are children.

Scott: Wow. And you write about some of the organizers here in the United States that are trying to bring attention to this, because, of course, many of us are using this cobalt in our devices or electric cars. We are the customers. So who are these organizers? And how is that effort going?

Mahoney: Yeah, there’s been a big uptick in the movement to build transnational solidarity between Black workers in the clean energy space in the United States with those miners in the DRC. Under the Biden administration, there’s obviously been a very concerted effort, billions of dollars being invested, into building out the infrastructure to produce electric vehicles. And we’ve seen that roughly 7% to 10% of workers within the clean energy space are Black, which is well below the U.S. average of the Black population. So Black workers, Black unions are making this connection that in the United States, they’re still getting crumbs, while at the same time across the globe, Black workers are being exploited for this push.

Scott: You write in your story about a court case before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which ruled that the five largest U.S. tech companies — including Alphabet, Microsoft and Tesla — could not be held liable for work conditions in the Congo. What other pressures are available for people trying to stop this?

Mahoney: There has been some effort to force these tech companies to look elsewhere in terms of where they’re extracting these resources. There’s been a push, actually, for companies to work in Canada, which is the only country in North America that has all five of the natural resources needed for electric vehicle batteries are readily available. And they obviously are working under higher worker laws, labor laws. There’s actually been work on the ground from some of these Black transit groups and Black transit activists calling on the U.S. and U.S. companies to actually rethink the way that they’re funding this electric vehicle push and pushing or swaying away from the use of individual cars towards funding EV buses or other forms of mass transit, which would then require less overall use of cobalt and these different minerals.

Scott: One of the themes of your story is that Black workers need to have a seat at the table when it comes to the clean energy transition. Obviously we need that transition. We also would like it to be equitable and just. What happens when Black workers are at the table?

Mahoney: Talking to transit and labor activists for this story, they were pretty honest about the fact that if it is only one or two Black people or people of color in these spaces, these critical conversations are not happening. But when a room is, you know, majority Black or majority brown, the work tends to look more action-oriented. And that even will dictate the way that the EV push is received by Black communities in the country, right? If you don’t see people that look like you at the table making these decisions, you’re going to be less likely to join in or accept it as something that is accessible for you. And it might point to why currently only about 2% of EV owners are Black, because they’re just not represented in that space.

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