Home / Case Map / Democratic Republic of the Congo
Resource Consumption · National to global

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Supplies most of the world's cobalt while capturing very little of its value.

How this page works

Six sections are filled in: the parts that are stable and factual. Four are yours — evidence, perspectives, evaluation and the current connection. Those four are where the marks are, and they are deliberately empty. A case study only counts once you have completed them.

↧ Download the Democratic Republic of the Congo template Word · ready to fill in · the six given sections already completed
Before you write about this one

This case complicates any simple story about renewable energy being clean. Hold both truths at once.

§ 01

The ten-part record

01 · Location Filled in for you

DR Congo
2.9°S 23.7°E · scale: National to global

See this case in context on the case study map.

02 · Geographic context Filled in for you

A very large, resource-rich central African state whose mineral wealth is central to global battery supply chains. Extraction includes both large industrial operations and extensive artisanal mining.

03 · Processes Filled in for you

What is changing here, and the mechanisms driving it.

  • Extraction of minerals critical to the energy transition
  • Export of raw material with processing occurring elsewhere
  • Artisanal mining alongside industrial operations
  • Value capture concentrated outside the producing country
04 · Evidence You build this

Find these, and write the year beside every figure. A statistic without a date is not evidence.

  • DR Congo's share of global cobalt production
  • Where the ore is refined, and in what proportion
  • Export value versus the value of finished batteries
  • Estimates of artisanal mining employment
Your figures go here
05 · Stakeholders Filled in for you

Who is affected, and separately, who holds the decision-making power.

  • Artisanal miners, including child labourers
  • Mining communities and their environments
  • The Congolese state and its revenue
  • Battery and vehicle manufacturers worldwide

Named above as a starting list. For each one, add what they actually want, and note where two of them want incompatible things.

06 · Perspectives You build this

Find two sources that disagree about this case — not two summaries of the same view. Record who each is, what they claim, and what interest they have. A perspective without a holder is not a perspective.

Your notes go here
07 · Concepts Filled in for you

Which of the six apply here, and what each one reveals.

  • Power. Holding the resource is not the same as holding the leverage.
  • Spatial interaction. A mineral chain running from a Congolese pit to a car in Florida.
  • Possibility. Recycling, substitution and domestic processing each change the picture.
08 · Evaluation You build this

How significant is this? How effective was any response? What are the limitations of your evidence? What else could explain the pattern? Reach a judgement and defend it.

Your notes go here
09 · Current connection You build this

One dated development from the last twelve months. Does it strengthen, weaken or complicate the case as recorded above? Update this every time you revisit the case.

Your notes go here
10 · Exam use Filled in for you

Resource extraction, uneven benefit, and the human cost of the energy transition.

Now go and build the other four

Reading this page is not the same as having a case study. Take the template, find the evidence, and fill in sections 4, 6, 8 and 9 in your own words.

↧ Download the template Or take the blank version for a case of your own
§ 02

Where to look

Start here. Prefer the organisation that produced the data over anyone summarising it.

Links checked 27 August 2026 · external links open in a new tab

← Back to the case map