The spanish energy transition as a headlong rush of capital
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46661/rec.11168Keywords:
Energy transition, Renewable energies, capital accumulation, Accumulation by dispossession, Cheap NatureAbstract
Energy transitions constitute the main political and economic response to global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels. However, the technical and social obstacles to the viability of a green growth model force to consider the hypothesis that the massive extension of renewable energies is not motivated by environmental awareness but by the business opportunity for capital instead. This article employs the theoretical contributions of David Harvey and Jason Moore to characterize the Spanish energy transition as an exercise of accumulation by dispossession and appropriation of Cheap Nature, respectively. Through these concepts, the reasons for the critical discourse synthesized in the motto “renewable yes, but not like that” are analysed. Once the local and national economic implications are presented, an attempt is made to put them in context with the North-South structure of global capitalism. At the current point of environmental degradation, an energy transition towards “clean” sources is essential, but the one driven by capital is rather a headlong rush.
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