The ‘Green War’: Geopolitical Metabolism and Green Extractivisms

Abstract

ABSTRACT Through ‘green transitions’ and ‘climate action’, geopolitical actors seem to be vying for dominance based on justifications that articulate geopolitical, economic, and ecological concerns. This ‘Green War’ geopolitical framing advances and consolidates imperial power through policies seeking to promote and secure ‘low carbon technology’ and ‘critical minerals’ supply chains, intensifying what we see as a novel ‘geopolitical metabolism’. Whereas geopolitical metabolisms used to notably focus on controlling the flow of fossil fuels, there is a growing emphasis on the ‘green extractivisms’ that underpin ‘green transition’ initiatives. This Green War framing and accompanying geopolitical metabolism enable states and corporations to advance and consolidate imperial power by capturing and perverting a much-needed geo-politics, or ‘politics of the Earth’. As such, we challenge the Green War geopolitical framing as part of the crucial effort to articulate an alternative geo-politics that promotes peace while reducing and redistributing energetic and material flows.