The Elements of Power is a tale of rapacious colonialism, Cold War spy games, dazzling technical innovation, big business rivalry, big power geopolitics. Nicholas Niarchos’s epic shocking story of the war for the global supply of battery metals- essential for the decarbonization of our economies- and the terrible, bloody human cost of this badly misunderstood industry.

Swaths of war-torn Congo, the African country is rich but lack basic infrastructure, and after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, tungsten, and other treasures. This veritable periodic table of resources has become extremely valuable because these metals are essential for global “energy transition”- the plan for wealthy nations to wean themselves off fossil fuels by shifting to sustainable forms of energy, such as solar and wind. The race to electrify the world’s economy has begun, and China has a considerable head start. From Indonesia to South America to Central Africa, Beijing has invested in mines and infrastructure for decades. But the US has began fighting back with massive investments of its own, as well as sanctions and disruptive tariffs.

In this rush to green energy, the world has become utterly reliant on resources unearthed far away and wilfully blind to terrible political, environmental, and social consequences of their extraction. If the Democratic Republic of the Congo possesses such riches, why are its children routinely descending deep into treacherous mines to dig with the most rudimentary tools, or in some cases their bare hands? Why are Indonesia’s seas and skies being polluted in a rush for battery metals? Why is the Western Sahara, a source for phosphates, still being treated like a colony? Who must pay the price for progress?

Nicholas Niarchos reveals how the scramble to control these metals and their production is overturning the world order, just as the global race to drill for oil shaped the twentieth century. Exploring the advent of the lithium-ion battery and tracing the supply chain for its production, Niarchos tells the story both of the people driving these tectonic changes and those whose lives are being upended. He takes the lid off the true, devastating consequences of our best intentions and helps us prepare for an uncertain future. If you have ever used a smartphone or driven an electric vehicle, you are impacted.

The new global order is being recast by the rush to control the resources – Cobalt, lithium, copper needed for clean energy revolution, and exposes the dirtiest supply chain on Earth.

The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth by Nicholas Niarchos, Penguin Press/William Collins, 480 pages, $32.