Book Launch — The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism: Global Capitalism and the Renewable Energy Transition

Book Launch — The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism: Global Capitalism and the Renewable Energy Transition

The world is in the throes of an unprecedented energy transformation, led by the rapid expansion of renewable energy technologies like wind, solar, and green hydrogen. Driven by ambitious climate goals and the falling costs of clean energy, countries across Europe are rolling out large-scale renewable energy projects, upgrading electricity grids, and experimenting with new energy storage solutions. These efforts are often touted as a win-win—creating jobs, boosting energy security, and helping to mitigate the climate crisis.

However, a critical analysis reveals a more complex, even troubling, reality. Behind the green veil of renewable energy lies a new form of green colonialism where the Global North is increasingly dependent on resource extraction from the Global South to power its energy transition. This dynamic is shaping a new geopolitical landscape with far-reaching implications for global justice and ecosocial equity.

The Expansion of Renewable Energy Markets

The European Union’s landmark European Green Deal, with its goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050, has been a major driver of the renewable energy boom. Across the continent, countries are rapidly scaling up wind and solar capacity, attracted by plummeting technology costs and lucrative feed-in tariffs and power purchase agreements. Spain, for example, aims to derive 74% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, while Germany plans to phase out coal power by 2038.

This renewable energy expansion, however, is not without its challenges. The intermittent nature of wind and solar power requires massive investments in grid modernization, energy storage, and demand-side management to ensure a stable and reliable electricity supply. Policymakers are also grappling with the spatial constraints of renewable energy, as the construction of large-scale wind and solar farms often faces local opposition due to concerns over land use, environmental impacts, and community displacement.

Resource Extraction and Neocolonial Exploitation

Fueling this renewable energy transition is an insatiable demand for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements—essential components for batteries, wind turbines, and other green technologies. Unfortunately, the extraction of these materials is often concentrated in the Global South, where mining operations have a long and troubled history of environmental destruction, human rights abuses, and neocolonial exploitation.

In the Lithium Triangle of South America, for instance, Indigenous communities have protested the expansion of lithium mining, which has depleted scarce water resources and disrupted traditional livelihoods. Similarly, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the world’s largest supplier of cobalt, mining activities have been linked to child labor, violence, and the displacement of local populations.

These extractive practices, often facilitated by bilateral trade agreements and investment deals, are a stark reminder that the clean energy revolution is not necessarily clean or just. The ​​uneven distribution of the costs and benefits of the renewable energy transition is a reflection of the deep-seated power imbalances between the Global North and South.

Conflicts over Green Infrastructure

The construction of renewable energy infrastructure in the Global South has also sparked conflicts over land rights, environmental protection, and the equitable distribution of the economic benefits. In many cases, local communities have resisted the establishment of solar farms, wind turbines, and hydrogen production facilities, citing concerns over the displacement of indigenous peoples, the destruction of biodiversity, and the lack of meaningful consultation and revenue-sharing.

For example, in Oaxaca, Mexico, Indigenous Zapotec and Ikojt communities have fiercely opposed the expansion of wind farms, arguing that the projects have undermined their autonomy, disrupted their livelihoods, and failed to deliver promised economic benefits. Similarly, in Indonesia, the development of geothermal power plants has faced resistance from local residents who fear the loss of their ancestral lands and the contamination of their water sources.

These conflicts reveal the deep tensions between the top-down, technocratic vision of the renewable energy transition and the lived realities of frontline communities in the Global South. Addressing these tensions will require a fundamental rethinking of the governance structures and power dynamics that underpin the current global energy system.

Shifting Power Relations and Geostrategic Competition

The renewable energy transition is also reshaping global power dynamics, as countries jockey for control over critical mineral supplies and clean energy technologies. China, for example, has emerged as a dominant player in the lithium-ion battery and solar panel value chains, leveraging its position as a leading producer of rare earth elements and its ability to provide low-cost manufacturing.

This has sparked concerns in Europe and the United States about their vulnerability to supply chain disruptions and the potential loss of technological leadership. In response, policymakers have sought to secure alternative sources of critical minerals, onshore manufacturing, and strategic partnerships with nations in the Global South, often through bilateral trade and investment agreements.

These geostrategic maneuvers, however, risk perpetuating the very power imbalances that have characterized North-South relations for centuries. The rush to secure access to critical resources could lead to a new era of resource nationalism, where resource-rich countries in the Global South use their strategic leverage to extract more favorable terms from the Global North.

Toward a Just Transition

The renewable energy transition is not inherently just or equitable. Without a radical rethinking of the global political and economic structures that underpin the current energy system, the shift to clean energy risks reinforcing existing patterns of uneven development and environmental injustice.

A truly just transition must address the deeply rooted colonial legacies and capitalist dynamics that shape the geopolitics of renewable energy. This will require a fundamental transformation of the global governance frameworks, trade agreements, and investment models that enable the continued extraction and exploitation of the Global South.

Moreover, it will necessitate the active participation and leadership of frontline communities, Indigenous peoples, and civil society organizations in shaping the energy transition. Only by centering the voices and perspectives of the Global South can we forge a pathway toward a more equitable and sustainable energy future.

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