EVs Indicted
EVs Indicted Cobalt Red is a scathing indictment of the global cobalt trade, and by extension, the electric vehicle industry. Robert Bryce Imagine for a moment if the oil and gas sector had direct (or indirect) connections to slavery, child labor, or working conditions so dangerous that thousands of their workers were dying on the job every year. The uproar and indignation would be heard from here to Houston. But in the case of the world’s supply of cobalt—an element that is a critical ingredient in the batteries that are driving the global EV craze—the response to the widespread use of child labor and hell-like working conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has gone largely unnoticed and vastly under-reported. Until now. Siddharth Kara is among the world’s bravest journalists. And his new book, Cobalt Red: How the Blood Of The Congo Powers Our Lives , is a must-read. It is a compelling, confounding, and withering indictment of the global supply chains that provide cobalt