I spoke to the folks at 360info about ways in which modern slavery and climate change intersect. Particularly, we talked about how efforts to mitigate climate change can inadvertently lead to an increase in labour exploitation.

The mineral Cobalt is in almost everything required for the future. Laptops, smartphones, and semiconductors all use this rock, which is mostly pulled out of mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cobalt, along with Lithium is also set to revolutionise the way we live and power our world through solar panels and enormous battery storage, but as much as 30% of the cobalt mined in the DRC is done so by people working under conditions described as modern slavery. So the question is, now that we know, what do we do about it? In this episode, we explore what is being done to preserve our world against modern slavery a problem that traps 50 million people around the world. Providing expert insight is Associate Professor Martijn Boersma from the University of Sydney.