The Human Cost of Convenience – Sustainability and the Congo Crisis​

Once referred to as “The Jewel of Africa,” the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a land of abundance. It holds over half of the world’s cobalt reserves, about six million metric tons as of 2024, alongside rich deposits of gold and coltan. Its vast rainforests and rivers, second only to the Amazon, make it one of the planet’s most biodiverse regions. With this natural wealth, the DRC should be thriving. Instead, history tells a different story.

Despite producing 70% of the world’s cobalt, the DRC remains among the world’s poorest nations, with over 73% of its people living on less than $2.15 a day (The Conversation, 2024; World Bank, 2025).

From the brutalist Belgian colonialism under King Leopold II to ongoing political instability, Congo’s resources have long been extracted for the benefit of others, in which this legacy continues today.

The smartphones in our hands and the batteries powering electric vehicles depend on minerals like cobalt and coltan. They are often mined in Congo under harsh, exploitative conditions involving child labour, armed conflict, and environmental ruin. While these devices are praised as green innovations, they carry a hidden cost.

So we must ask, what does sustainability mean if it’s built on suffering? Can we call something sustainable if it sacrifices people and ecosystems?

Sustainability Through a Wider Lens

Sustainability is often understood through a narrow, Western-centric lens, one that prioritises carbon footprints, renewable energy, and economic efficiency. Whilst important, this slim view overlooks the human and ecological costs of progress. From an Islamic perspective, sustainability is rooted in justice (adl), trust (amānah), and balance (mīzān). The Qur’an warns against spreading corruption (fasād) on Earth, urging muslims to care for creation with accountability.

True sustainability demands that we look beyond packaging and emissions. It asks: Who pays the price for our progress? When we step back from recycled packaging and electric cars, we begin to see a more complex, often uncomfortable truth: that ecological sustainability cannot be achieved without addressing the violent extraction and degradation of ecosystems in places like the DRC. Mining operations here not only destroy vast rainforests and critical carbon sinks, but also contaminate drinking water, erode soil fertility, and drive out native species. Such practices disrupt natural balance (mīzān) and contribute directly to climate instability.

This environmental injustice is compounded by systemic inequality: it is the poorest who live closest to toxic waste, who breathe in the cobalt dust, and who lose their land to profit-driven deforestation. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught, “The world is beautiful and verdant, and verily God, be He exalted, has made you His stewards in it, and He sees how you acquit yourselves.” (Hadith Sahih Muslim)

When we allow technological progress to destroy ecosystems and endanger lives, we fail that trust (amānah). The Qur’an reminds us not to “spread corruption in the land after it has been set in order” (7:56) – yet the pursuit of ‘green’ solutions often leaves devastation in its wake.

Surah Al-A’raf Ayat 56 (7:56 Quran) The Heights / The Elevated Places (7:56) 

“Do not spread corruption in the land after it has been set in order. And call upon Him with hope and fear. Indeed, Allah’s mercy is always close to the good-doers.” (Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran)

What is unfolding in the DRC is not just a technological dilemma, but a moral one: a crisis of spiritual accountability as much as environmental ethics. Justice (‘adl) and mercy (raḥmah) must guide our definitions of sustainability, or we risk reproducing the very destruction we claim to prevent.

Our Mobile Phones

Cobalt and coltan are essential to lithium-ion batteries. But their extraction in the DRC has fuelled conflict and exploitation. Armed groups battle for control of mines. Children work underground in unsafe conditions, exposed to toxic dust for less than £1.50 a day.

Paul, a 14-year-old orphan, shared with Amnesty International in 2016:

“I would spend 24 hours down in the tunnels… My foster father made me work in the mine.” (Amnesty International, 2016)

The environmental cost is just as volatile and grim. Forests are cleared. Rivers are polluted by chemical runoff. Soil and water systems are poisoned. These extractive practices destabilise the local climate and strip the land of life-all in service of green technologies.

The UK designates the DRC as a Human Rights Priority Country, citing widespread child and forced labour in its mining sectors. Despite this, UK-DRC trade reached £698 million in 2022, with limited accountability for labour or environmental harm. Though frameworks like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) exist, the UK government acknowledges enforcement remains weak. Ethics must move beyond paper commitments to ensure real protections for people and ecosystems. (UK Government, 2024, Overseas Business Risk for DRC)

Environmental Sustainability and Climate Impact

Digital and electric innovations are vital in tackling climate change but the mining behind them often undermines their purpose. Deforestation, toxic waste, and resource depletion are accelerating. Add to that the growing e-waste crisis-much of which ends up back in the Global South and the contradiction becomes undeniable.

Not all sustainability is ethical. A solution that lowers emissions in the Global North while devastating the Global South is no solution at all.

Global and Individual Impact

Congo’s mining crisis has global consequences. It fuels devices and cars used worldwide. But it also accelerates environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate instability.

At an individual level, our consumption choices matter. Each upgrade, each device, is part of a supply chain tied to exploitation. But awareness is power. We can choose better: buy less, demand transparency, and support ethical alternatives.

What Can Be Done?

In 2015, the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change was delivered, calling on Muslims to take action to address climate change and protect the environment. UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres expressed welcomed the declaration: 

“Islam’s teachings, which emphasize the duty of humans as stewards of the Earth and the teacher’s role as an appointed guide to correct behavior, provide guidance to take the right action on climate change.” (Islamic Declaration on Climate Change, 2015)

Change must happen on every level:

• Corporations and governments must ensure ethical sourcing, support local communities, and invest in fair trade practices.
• Technology and policy should focus on reducing mineral dependency through innovation and circular economies.
• Consumers can drive change through conscious choices and advocacy.

Embracing ethical frameworks like Islamic stewardship (Khilāfah) reminds us that environmental justice is not just technical, it is spiritual. The Earth is a trust (amānah) given to us, and we are accountable for how we treat it. True sustainability is inseparable from human rights and equity. It demands a rethinking of how we measure progress – not by endless consumption, but by balance, compassion, and care for all life.

Real sustainability is not just about emissions. It’s about justice, equity, and care for all life-human and beyond.

Written by Zahra Ali