The coloniality of green extractivism: unearthing decarbonisation by dispossession through the case of nickel

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  • dc.contributor.author Andreucci, Diego
  • dc.contributor.author García López, Gustavo
  • dc.contributor.author Radhuber, Isabella M.
  • dc.contributor.author Conde, Marta
  • dc.contributor.author Voskoboynik, Daniel Macmillen
  • dc.contributor.author Farrugia, JD
  • dc.contributor.author Zografos, Christos
  • dc.date.accessioned 2024-04-08T05:44:39Z
  • dc.date.available 2024-04-08T05:44:39Z
  • dc.date.issued 2023
  • dc.description.abstract This article elaborates on the notion of “decarbonisation by dispossession” in order to shed light on the contradictory character of capital-driven energy transitions. First, we suggest conceptualising “decarbonisation” as a “socio-ecological fix” to intersecting, climate-induced crises of accumulation and hegemony, aimed at saving capital rather than the planet. Second, reflecting on the mineral intensity of “low carbon” technologies such as industrial-scale solar and wind farms, we approach ongoing transitions as a form of “extractivism”: a form of predatory appropriation of land and resources, embedded in global geographies of unequal ecological and value exchange. Third, examining the case of nickel, we argue that, despite elements that complicate a clear North-South binary, capital-driven transitions are ultimately reinforcing the colonial character of energy provision; they are causing an expansion of “transition mineral” frontiers and associated dispossession effects, and creating sacrifice zones of extraction and processing concentrated in formerly colonised countries. Considering also the contradictory outcomes of mineral-intensive transitions in terms of CO2 emissions reduction, our findings point to a structural inability of capital to solve its ecological contradiction. We conclude that radical proposals for a genuinely “just” transition, including those that mobilise a Green New Deal framework, should aim to decouple energy provision (and the reproduction of life more generally) from the material and epistemic violence of colonial-extractive capitalism.
  • dc.description.sponsorship We wish to thank Antonis Vradis and four anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on previous versions of this article. Diego Andreucci's research for this article was funded through a postdoctoral fellowship at the International Institute of Social Studies–Erasmus University Rotterdam, co-financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) as part of its support for the Prince Claus Chair 2020–2022 (grant no. W 02.24.111); and by a “Maria Zambrano” postdoctoral fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Gustavo Garcia Lopez acknowledges support by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT), under the Individual Scientific Employment Stimulus (CEEC Individual), Contract CEECIND/04850/2017/CP1402/CT0010. Marta Conde received funding from a Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant (No. 897072) and from the research project Recercaixa 2017 ‘Activism Mobilising Science’ (Obra Social La Caixa and ACUP). Christos Zografos would like to acknowledge support by the GRES research project (Contract number: CNS2022-136115) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union Next Generation/PRTR programme.
  • dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
  • dc.identifier.citation Andreucci D, García G, Radhuber IM, Conde M, Voskoboynik DM, Farrugia J, et al. The coloniality of green extractivism: unearthing decarbonisation by dispossession through the case of nickel. Political Geography. 2023 Nov;107:102997. DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102997
  • dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102997
  • dc.identifier.issn 0962-6298
  • dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/59668
  • dc.language.iso eng
  • dc.publisher Elsevier
  • dc.relation.ispartof Political Geography. 2023 Nov;107:102997
  • dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/897072
  • dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PE/CNS2022-136115
  • dc.rights © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
  • dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  • dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
  • dc.subject.other Níquel -- Compostos
  • dc.subject.other Anhídrid carbònic
  • dc.subject.other Clima i civilització
  • dc.title The coloniality of green extractivism: unearthing decarbonisation by dispossession through the case of nickel
  • dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
  • dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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