Congo: the secret heart of the energy transition (with Dr Ben Radley)

The Democratic Republic of Congo produces over 70% of the words Cobalt, a key material in many modern bateries and clean energy technologies.

It is a mining powerhouse, central to the global energy system, and yet the economy remains one of the poorest in the world.

So what do these mines look like on the ground? Why have Chinese firms been buying up more of the country's mines? and what does all of this have to do with the EV in your driveway?

In our final episode before Christmas we are joined by Dr Ben Radley, Associate Professor at the University of Bath and author of Disrupted Development in the Congo: The Fragile Foundations of the African Mining Consensus (Oxford University Press).

Alongside our host, former UK government advisor and Cambridge Fellow Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett, Ben talks to us about all of this and more, to understand the critical role of DRC in the energy system, and whether a fairer mining deal is possible.