"Toxic Transition: How the world's largest cobalt producer has allegedly poisoned communities for years." 9 March 2026

'EIA US and Premi Congo’s investigation into cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) exposes the toxic underbelly of the world’s energy transition and offers pragmatic recommendations to correct its course.

The breakthrough 3+ year investigation connects large-scale analysis of medical records, independent air pollution monitoring, geospatial intelligence, interviews with dozens of affected community members, and corporate insiders’ knowledge to document a severe public health crisis apparently caused by the world’s largest cobalt producer. The investigation ties the rapid growth of the world’s largest cobalt producer and the booming production of electric vehicles (EVs) by some of the world’s largest car manufacturers to what appears to be air pollution spanning multiple years, impacting dozens of families and workers.'

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'EIA is taking the findings of our investigation directly to major automakers whose cobalt supply chains are linked to toxic pollution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.'

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Responses provided by the alleged perpetrator (Tenke Fungurume mine), alleged downstream buyers of the mines (BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz, Umicore and Stellantis), as well as Standard setters certifying the mine (CopperMark and IRMA) can be found on the link to the report above. Other downstream or midstream allegedly buying from Tenke Fungurume mine, CATL and Volkswagen, did not respond to EIA requests for response.