Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID)
Focus Area:
Legal
Key Lever:
Assurance & pressures, Capacity & incentives, Policy & regulation
Grant Region:
Africa
Grant Country:
DR Congo
Grant Start Year:
2022
Project name
Building a Just Transition to Renewable Energies - Strengthening Accountability for the Environmental Impacts of Cobalt Mining in DR Congo and Beyond
Project summary
To build a just transition to renewable energies and strengthen accountability for the environmental impacts of cobalt mining in DR Congo and beyond.
To tackle this problem, we propose to work on three fronts: (i) Field research to gather detailed information on environmental harm at a targeted number of mine sites, together with Congolese partners and science experts, with the aim of exposing the problem; (ii) Conduct a legal analysis to determine the legal landscape and corporate accountability options for frontline communities, including how domestic Congolese laws connect to regional and international judicial/extrajudicial mechanisms, to promote enhanced corporate accountability for environmental harm; (iii) Conduct advocacy with the results of our research to advocate for better environmental performance at industrial cobalt mines – and more generally in supply chains related to EVs – and to influence companies, investors, states and consumers to invest in collective solutions for a truly just energy transition
