The Green Transition Has a Cost: Environmental Justice Crisis in the Congo

What is the true cost of the global transition to clean energy?

As the world embraces electric vehicles, renewable energy, batteries, and new technologies, the demand for minerals such as cobalt and other critical resources continues to grow. But behind many of the technologies powering our so-called sustainable future is a story that too often remains invisible: the story of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In this episode, Dr. Lesley Joseph is joined by Sarah Backstrand, an environmental policy researcher, and Father Dr. Toussaint Kafarhire, a Congolese Jesuit priest, theologian, sociologist, and advocate. Together, they explore the Democratic Republic of Congo's long and complicated history of extraction — from colonial exploitation and rubber production to uranium, cobalt, and the minerals now essential to the global energy transition.

The conversation examines the environmental and human consequences of mining, including pollution, displacement, dangerous working conditions, and the unequal distribution of the benefits and burdens of resource extraction. The guests also challenge common narratives about the Congo as an inherently unstable or “ungovernable” nation and ask listeners to consider the historical and global forces shaping the country's ongoing conflicts and extractive economy.

But this episode is not about despair. It is also about agency, dignity, truth, spirituality, and hope. Father Toussaint and Sarah discuss the importance of listening to artisanal miners and affected communities as experts in their own lives, strengthening democratic accountability, and recognizing Congolese people as partners in shaping their own future, rather than objects of charity or intervention.

Most importantly, this conversation asks a difficult question: Can the green transition truly be called sustainable if its benefits are enjoyed in one part of the world while its environmental and human costs are concentrated in another? Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about Congo, cobalt, colonialism, environmental justice, and what it will take to build a future where technological progress does not come at the expense of human dignity.

Because a just transition must be just for everyone.

Resources:
King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

Finn, B., Backstrand, S., and Lukobo, E. (2026). Transformative cohabitation: A new approach to artisanal and small-scale mining interventions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Energy Research and Social Science 135: 104651.

Ahl, N. (July 17, 2026). Blood Batteries and the Green Transition: Energy Justice Lessons from Cobalt Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Consilience: Blog for Journal of Sustainable Development

Powering Change or Business as Usual? Forced evictions at industrial cobalt and copper mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – Amnesty International

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