The Elements of Power is a tale of rapacious colonialism, 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 and Cold War spy games, dazzling technical innovation, big business rivalry, big power geopolitics. Niarchos produced an unfinching, landmark work on the nature of extractive capitalism. Congo is rich amid swaths of the war-ton African country lack basic infrastructure and after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soild are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, Tantalum, tungsten, and other treasures. Recently, this veritable periodic table of resources has become extremely valuable because these metals are essential for the global energy transition- the plan of 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 had a considerable head start. From Indonesia to South America to Central Africa, Beijing has invested in mines and infrastructure for decades. But the U.S. has begun fighting back with massive investments of its own, as well as sanctions and disruptive tariffs.

In this rush for green energy, the world had become utterly reliant on resources unearthed far away and wilfully blind to the 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 of 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 of phosphates, still being treated like a colony? Who must pay the price for progress?

With unparalleled original reporting, Nicola 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 also reveals 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 implicated.

The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth by Nicholas Niarchos, William Collins/ Penguin Press, £28/$32, 480 pages.