| Kommentar |
In the Anthropocene epoch climate change presents the greatest challenge of humanity and for our earth system. Both the origins and effects of global warming are unequally distributed among regions, nations and continents, and this tendency risks to reinforce global inequalities in the coming years. Popular calls for a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy in the Global North, however, often overlook that decarbonisation will be very mineral intensive because low carbon technologies for “clean energy” need more materials than fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technologies. Low-carbon energy systems, for instance, will require vast amounts of “energy transition metals” (ETMs) – like cobalt, lithium, and copper among many others – for new technologies and energy infrastructure. To date many of these metals are mostly extracted in countries of the Global South, and imply different environmental and human rights challenges along their supply chain.
This seminar focuses on societal contradictions and inequalities in processes of sustainability transformation. It examines the relationship between society and the environment from a perspective of global entanglements. Decolonial approaches and the political ecology literature serve as basis to discuss different meanings and underlying conditions of the “just transition”. The seminar focuses on (but is not limited to) the global mining sector and the central dilemmas of the “energy transition-extractives nexus”. Case studies from Africa and Europe form the empirical core of the course. |
| Literatur |
- Bainton N., Kemp, D.; Lèbre, E.; Owen, J. R.; Marston G. (2021) : The energy-extractives nexus and the just transition, Sustainable Development 29 (4), pp. 624-634, https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2163.
- Escobar, A. (2020). Pluriversal politics: the real and the possible, Durham: Duke University Press.
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| Bemerkung |
As the course wants to accommodate international students and discusses mostly non-German literature, the seminar will be held in English. However, participation requires no specific language skills. The introductory meeting (to talk about course content and examination) will be on 19/10/2022. |
