Beneath the surface: the human and environmental cost of cobalt mining - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beneath the surface: the human and environmental cost of cobalt mining - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this CETEx commentary Lea Reitmeier provides a summary of the issues covered by the film\u00a0Cobalt Rush \u2013 The Future of Going Green,\u00a0which was screened and discussed by an LSE panel, including the film\u2019s director, on 28 November 2024.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-26T14:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Cobalt-DRC-IIED-Afrewatch-2020-Flickr.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\\\/\",\"name\":\"Beneath the surface: the human and environmental cost of cobalt mining - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/Cobalt-DRC-IIED-Afrewatch-2020-Flickr.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-08T14:40:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-26T14:52:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/Cobalt-DRC-IIED-Afrewatch-2020-Flickr.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/Cobalt-DRC-IIED-Afrewatch-2020-Flickr.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Artisanal cobalt mining in DRC. 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{"id":77579,"date":"2025-01-08T14:40:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T14:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=news&p=77579"},"modified":"2025-03-26T14:52:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T14:52:00","slug":"beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/beneath-the-surface-the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-cobalt-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"Beneath the surface: the human and environmental cost of cobalt mining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this CETEx commentary Lea Reitmeier provides a summary of the issues covered by the film Cobalt Rush – The Future of Going Green,<\/em> which was screened and discussed by an LSE panel, including the film’s director, on 28 November 2024. The film reflects on the surge in demand for critical minerals such as cobalt, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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