Dismantling green colonialism: energy and climate justice in the Arab region, published recently by Pluto Press for the Transnational Institute, emerges as a vital contribution addressing the stark reality of climate breakdown in the Arab region, home to some of the world’s most vulnerable nations. This urgency is heightened in an era where climate change issues demand immediate attention. Specifically, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts an escalation of extreme weather events, including wildfires and flooding, along with heightened aridity and droughts in the Mediterranean and Gulf regions. A recent Lancet article underscores the peril, arguing that Arab countries will face absolute water poverty, reaching a critical threshold of 500 cubic metres per person per year by 2050.
Going beyond these alarming projections, the edited volume shifts its focus to highlight how the impacts of climate change disproportionately affect marginalised communities – small-scale farmers, agro-pastoralists, agricultural labourers and fisherfolk. As the editors explain, their aim is to explicitly reject the notion that the climate crisis is an inevitable outcome, emphasising that it is a result of the deliberate choice to continue burning fossil fuels. This choice is made by corporations, governments in the northern hemisphere and national ruling classes, including those in the Arab region. The collaboration between rich elites in these countries and multinational corporations, along with international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is positioned against climate justice and humanity’s survival. The edited volume also critically scrutinises COP meetings – the United Nations climate change conferences – asserting that they have failed to yield substantive outcomes, while challenging the hegemony of profit-driven and market-based solutions, such as carbon trading and nature-based solutions, which signal a reluctance to reduce carbon emissions and a preference to leave fossil fuels untouched.
The editors, Hamza Hamouchene and Katie Sandwell, and a further 16 contributors compellingly illustrate that North Africa and West Asia serve as a pivotal nexus in global fossil capitalism. These regions not only play a major role in shaping new global networks of trade, logistics, infrastructure and finance but also stand as crucial nodal points in the global fossil fuel regime. Their integral role in sustaining fossil capitalism is underlined by the significant oil and gas supplies they provide, maintaining their position as the central axis of world hydrocarbon markets. More recently, the Middle East’s resources have become indispensable in meeting the heightened demand for oil and gas, fuelled by the rise of China. This shift reflects a key structural transformation in the global political economy over the last two decades, marked by closer ties between the Middle East and East Asia. Consequently, Middle East oil producers are now central figures in climate change debates and in any prospective transition away from fossil fuels.
The contributors further argue that the historical, political and geophysical realities of the Arab region necessitate distinctive responses to the climate crisis, both in terms of its effects and potential solutions. This raises crucial questions about what a just response to climate change would entail in this context. Emphasising the utmost importance and urgency, they advocate that the issue be examined through a justice lens rather than a security one. They contend that framing the future through a security lens empowers the state’s repressive capabilities, leading to a securitised and militarised response. This approach allows the affluent to thrive in comfort, leaving the rest of the world to bear the brunt of climate inaction.
It is noteworthy that the groundwork for this book was laid during a meeting of environmental justice and labour movements from three continents in Amsterdam in 2019. The primary objective was to identify key characteristics of a just transition. This underscores the understanding that a just transition is not only a climate issue but also encompasses class and gender considerations. It is framed within an anti-racist framework and takes on unique manifestations in different locations, with several chapters delivering a detailed analysis of national experiences. Importantly, it extends beyond climate concerns and encompasses broader democratic principles.
Crucially, this edited volume seeks to address a significant gap in the literature by rectifying the dominance of perspectives from international neoliberal institutions in writings on climate change, the ecological crisis, and the energy transition in the Arab region. These perspectives typically lack considerations of class, race, gender, justice, power or colonial history. Instead, they often prioritise market-based, top-down responses that fail to address the root causes of the interconnected climate, ecological, food and energy crises. By challenging and remedying this imbalance, the edited volume contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand and advocates for more inclusive, equitable and radical approaches to addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change.
Importantly, this volume stands out as a collection of essays primarily authored by writers from the Middle East and Northern Africa region, offering a comprehensive exploration of various dimensions surrounding the quest for an equitable and just energy transition. The chapters span a diverse array of countries, including Morocco, occupied Western Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Palestine, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Additionally, the volume includes regional perspectives on the agricultural transition and neocolonial scramble for diverse energy sources in North Africa, and delves into the challenges and contradictions of the energy transition in the Gulf. A distinctive feature of this edited volume is its explicit adoption of a justice lens that strives to uncover policies and practices that safeguard political elites, multinational corporations and authoritarian/military regimes. By acknowledging and contributing to processes of knowledge production and resistance against extractivism, land/resource grabbing and neocolonial agendas, the overarching goal of the contributors and the editors is to advocate for transformative sustainability from the ground up, in the belief that this grassroots approach holds the greatest potential for effectively addressing environmental, food, energy and social crises.
The volume is structured into three distinct sections, each offering important insights into critical aspects of the energy transition. Part I, ‘Energy colonialism, unequal exchange and green extractivism’, provides an exploration of the (neo-)colonial dynamics involved in appropriating various natural resources. It sheds light on the persistent extractivist approaches and practices that lead to the plunder of resources, externalising socio-environmental costs and disproportionately affecting peripheral and oppressed populations. Part II is entitled ‘Neoliberal adjustments, privatisation of energy, and the role of international financial institutions’ and focuses on the global political economic landscape. This section examines neoliberal structures facilitating the exploitation of peripheral ecologies and brings attention to the scramble for resources under the guise of the energy transition. The role of international financial institutions is dissected, revealing how these structures contribute to the ongoing dynamics of resource exploitation. Finally, Part III, ‘Fossil capitalism and challenges to a just transition’, navigates the complexities and contradictions inherent in the energy transition within countries heavily dependent on fossil fuel exports. By delving into the challenges posed by fossil capitalism, it offers a nuanced understanding of the obstacles hindering a just transition, thus serving as an important contribution to the ongoing discourse on sustainable and equitable energy practices.
Overall, Dismantling green colonialism provides a comprehensive critique of the systemic issues fuelling the climate crisis and exposes the vested interests resisting meaningful change; it offers a radical, anti-capitalistic critique that underscores the imperative to break away from the system of capitalist exploitation that is primarily responsible for the climate crisis. By critically examining how these processes unfold in the distinctive contexts of different countries in the Arab region – marked by authoritarian regimes, oil export-dependent economies, legacies of colonisation and imperialism, and the potential for substantial green energy resources – it represents a significant contribution to the ongoing global discourse on climate action and just transition. Importantly, by incorporating multifaceted analyses spanning political, economic, social, class and environmental considerations and explicitly lending support to progressive forces, movements, and grassroots groups in the Arab region, this diverse collection brings forward a localised, democratic and public response to the urgently needed energy transition.