The age of denial is over. Across the global North, how we should respond to the climate crisis has been answered: with carbon trading, green hydrogen, a shift to renewables, and electric cars. Green New Deals across Europe and North America promise to reduce emissions while creating new jobs.

But these climate 'solutions' beneath the sustainability branding lead to new environmental injustices and green colonialism. The green growth and clean energy plans of the Global North require the large-scale extraction of strategic minerals from the Global South. The geopolitics of transition implies sacrificing territories and genuinely sustainable ways of inhabiting this world. A new subordination in the global energy economy prevents societies in the South from developing sovereign strategies to foster a dignified life.

This book platforms the voices conspicuously absent in debates around energy and climate in the Global North. Drawing on case studies from across the Global South, the authors provide incisive critiques of green colonialism in its material, political, and symbolic dimensions, discuss the multiple entanglements that forcefully connect the transitions of different world regions in a globalized economy, and explore alternative pathways toward a liveable and globally just future for all.

Author: Miriam Lang, Mary Ann Manahan, Breno Bringel
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
Published: 03/20/2024
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 7.72h x 4.88w x 1.73d
ISBN: 9780745349343

About the Author

'Written by some of the most important theorists of the ecological, degrowth and debt movements ... A powerful and comprehensive analysis. Essential reading' Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch

'An impeccably documented, well-argued book [that shows that] a post-carbon world needs to be a post-capitalist world' Walden Bello, author of Deglobalization

'Brilliantly surveys critical feminist, ecological and decolonial perspectives from leading scholars and activists' Peter Newell, Professor, University of Sussex

The time for denial is over. Across the Global North, the question of how we should respond to the climate crisis has been answered: with a shift to renewables, electric cars, carbon trading and hydrogen.

But beneath the sustainability branding, these climate 'solutions' are leading to new environmental injustices and green colonialism. The green growth and clean energy plans of the Global North require the large-scale extraction of strategic minerals from the Global South. The geopolitics of transition imply sacrificing not only territories, but truly sustainable ways of inhabiting this world.

This book provides a platform for the voices that have been conspicuously absent in debates around energy and climate. Drawing on case studies from across the Global South, the authors offer critiques of green colonialism in its material, political and symbolic dimensions, discuss the entanglements that connect the transitions of different world regions, and explore alternative pathways toward a liveable and just future for all.

Miriam Lang is Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Ecuador. Mary Ann Manahan is a doctoral assistant in the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University, Belgium. Breno Bringel is a Professor of Sociology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro and a Senior Fellow at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.