As wealthy nations try to find new ways to cut their carbon emissions, electric vehicles have been getting a lot of attention. From incentives for electric cars in the US to all-out bans on future gas and petrol cars in the UK and European Union, leaders are pushing their populations away from the gas guzzlers. But electric cars aren’t an environmental silver bullet. Their batteries require specific types of metals, like cobalt and nickel. One potential – and controversial – source for those metals is the deep sea. In this episode, we look at the minerals on the bottom of the ocean floor and the environmental costs of mining them.

In this episode: 

• Diva Amon (@DivaAmon), marine biologist 
• Daniel Ackerman (@DAckermanNews), independent climate journalist

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St. Clair mixed this episode. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad. Al Jazeera’s head of audio is Ney Alvarez.

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