- From May 13-15, the Cobalt Institute, a London-based organization, hosted a conference in Madrid to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of the cobalt industry.
- Cobalt has emerged as a critical mineral in the global transition to green energy: widely used in electric vehicles, smartphones and battery technologies, about 70% of the world’s cobalt is produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Robert Agenong’a, an Indigenous politician and civil society leader from Ituri Province in northeastern DRC, near the border with Uganda, attended the Madrid conference to better understand how multinational corporations are positioning themselves within the country’s rapidly expanding critical minerals sector. He criticized the conference as an example of “corporate capture,” where the business interests of the mining sector dominate.
- “The concern is that everyone is interested in getting Congolese cobalt to the world market because it is of very high quality,” he said. “But nobody pays attention to the environmental harms, the social impacts, and the communities’ grievances.”
The global rush for minerals needed for the green energy transition risks repeating the same old extractive patterns that have long left communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo bearing the costs while others reap the benefits, a lawmaker from the country warns.
Robert Agenong’a, a civil society leader and also politician from the Ituri Province, spoke to Mongabay at a major international cobalt meeting in Madrid earlier this month. He criticized what he described as the growing “corporate capture” of the country’s critical minerals sector. He said discussions at the May 13-15 conference — hosted by the U.K.-based Cobalt Institute and sponsored by mining giants Glencore, IXM and CMOC Group Limited, among others — focused heavily on securing cobalt supplies for electric vehicles and clean energy markets, while giving far less attention to the environmental and social fallout in mining areas.
Previous Mongabay reporting has highlighted the severe impacts of mining on local communities, particularly on the health and well-being of women and youth.
“The concern is that everyone is interested in getting Congolese cobalt to the world market because it is of very high quality,” Agenong’a said. “But nobody pays attention to the environmental harms, the social impacts, and the communities’ grievances.”
The DRC produces roughly 70% of the world’s cobalt, a mineral considered essential for the batteries used in electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies. As governments and industries push to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, competition for access to the DRC’s cobalt and other transition minerals has intensified.
But the global demand for “clean energy” minerals has also fueled growing debate over whether the transition itself is creating new environmental and social injustices in mineral-rich countries like the DRC.
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Agenong’a said he attended the Madrid conference partly to better understand how international mining interests are positioning themselves around the DRC’s cobalt. He said he registered independently.
He said many of the roughly 280 delegates attending the event represented mining firms or institutions closely tied to the sector, and described an atmosphere dominated by networking, deal-making, and lobbying among mining executives, foreign service providers, and DRC officials. The latter included representatives linked to the presidency and the Ministry of Mines, Agenong’a said.
“The actors in this business are well armed, even more than the government and other stakeholders in the DRC,” he said, referring to their financial and political influence. “They can bribe, they can influence policies, they can have expensive dinners with government officials, and change situations in their favor.”
A 2026 report by U.S.-based think tank the Council on Foreign Relations documented more than 100-armed groups operating in the DRC, contributing to the destabilization of mining supply chains. According to international environmental advocacy group Global Witness, multinational companies purchase cobalt, tin and other minerals through intermediaries that, in some cases, buy the minerals directly from militia groups.
Agenong’a’s comments come at a time when scrutiny is increasing globally over the ethics and traceability of critical mineral supply chains. Battery manufacturers and mining companies increasingly promote certification systems and due diligence standards aimed at assuring consumers that minerals are responsibly sourced.
But Agenong’a questioned whether many of those systems are credible or capable of protecting communities in the DRC.
“If countries that do not produce cobalt are exporting increasing quantities of these minerals, especially during war in the DRC, then where is this coming from?” he asked. “What exactly are the certifiers certifying?”
His remarks echo broader concerns that conflict minerals and smuggled resources continue to move across borders in Africa’s Great Lakes region despite international traceability schemes and corporate due diligence commitments.
He also criticized what he described as weak parliamentary oversight of the mining sector inside the DRC. He accused some politicians of personally benefiting from mining interests, making meaningful scrutiny difficult.
“We have politicians who are not interested in these issues because they themselves have interests in mining,” he said. “Parliament is largely outside this deliberation, and without parliament’s participation, it will be difficult to protect Congolese interests against foreign companies that are well positioned to influence decisions.”
At the same time, Agenong’a acknowledged that resistance within the country remains limited and fragmented. He pointed to weak investigative journalism, underfunded civil society groups, and low levels of public awareness around mining contracts and environmental risks.
“Investigative journalism is dying,” he said. “Without organizations like Mongabay or international media training local reporters and helping expose these issues, we will not have objective stories reaching international audiences.”
Banner image: A miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023. Image by Electronics Watch via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).
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