Dur-e-Adan

The energy transition is presented in a favorable light in most climate conferences as well as in corporate reports. It has been defined as something that should be seen as a natural need without room for doubt or argument. As observed by the scholars in the field of International Political Economy, however, the energy transition is becoming increasingly similar to the past practices of resource extraction used during the carbon age. The fact that developed countries reach their goals of decarbonization by exploiting the resources of countries of the Global South clearly indicates that the process cannot be defined as anything other than green colonialism.

The region of South Asia is one that plays a significant role in the observation of the aspect of the political economy in action. This area has been deemed one of the key regions for experiencing the effects of climate change as it is a place that is seamlessly connected to the various value chains emerging in the fields of green energy. The region promises massive renewable capacity, creation of solar corridors, as well as a breakthrough process of exporting hydrogen. However, the positive announcements about the planned decarbonization of the region are accompanied by the necessity of transferring the environmental and social costs to the marginalized communities living there because of the actions of transnational capital as well as local elites.

The extensive renewable energy infrastructure systems require significantly larger amounts of land when compared to older fossil fuel systems, which means that ten times as much space for renewable energy is needed. In order to gather all the land needed to build solar and wind energy generators in such places as Rajasthan, Thar Desert, or the Rann of Kutch, post-colonial bureaucracies employ methods to categorize the land into that of wasteland and not productive at all. This series of legal acts diminishes traditional rights of land, leading to the removal of range of land users and drought farming communities that depend on free access to grazing land for seasonal movements of livestock. The barriers of large renewable energy facilities trespass on paths that have been used for generations and privatize scarce local aquifers, which is a manifestation of internal colonization where state authority uses the climate emergency to suppress local sovereignty and land rights.

The unequal exchange of space becomes even worse with the appearance of a global market for green hydrogen and ammonia. These types of green hydrogen are already promoted worldwide as the miraculous solution to the problem of carbonization of hard-to-decarbonize heavy industries in the developed world, and this has resulted in increased investments. The richer countries keep trying to get agreements with countries of the Global South with high levels of solar energy, so that they can supply energy-intensive industries with energy without exceeding the carbon quotas set for their countries.

Nevertheless, the thermodynamic and macroeconomic equilibrium of this trade shows a major developmental conflict. The production of one kilogram of green hydrogen through electrolysis is estimated to use about 50–55 kWh of carbon-free electricity alongside a considerable amount of demineralized fresh water. In such a region that suffers from constant blackout situations, industrial energy shortages, and depletion of groundwater aquifers, the use of clean renewable energy to create the molecules for export represents an unfair advantage for other external regions. Host countries that are developing are effectively transferring their zero-emission, fixed-output capacity to achieve the carbon cleanup of rich countries, where coal, fossil gas, and terrible debts keep their national grids.

Environmental damage is concentrated along critical shores where seawater desalination is used to supply power-generation facilities. The dumping of extremely salty and treated waste into sensitive wetlands has a negative effect on marine biodiversity and threatens small-scale fishing communities that have been endangered for years due to ocean warming and industrialization. The problem of the environment is not resolved; it is merely pushed further downriver to areas where communities are powerless.

In addition to this disparity in resources, international climate finance also suffers from a pitfall in terms of its governance structure. The high-capital, patent-protected aspects of the environmental transition, especially modern proton-exchange membrane electrolyzers, advanced wind-turbine components, and innovative smart-grid technologies, are mostly monopolized by foreign corporations from the Global North and East Asia. In turn, developing countries in South Asia are primarily relegated to less significant roles in the value chain.

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A thorough examination of green colonialism doesn’t support climate denialism or promote the use of household coal and gas facilities. Instead, the critique negates the misleading notion that the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy is an ethical or substantive sample from the past. This is because decarbonization without political resource management, land reform, and sustainable transfer of technology is merely switching the energy source but reinforcing the periphery-center divisions that have ruled global capitalism.

An authentic transformation of energy development in South Asia must overcome reliance on resources obtained from exports. South Asia is encouraged to get started with the reforms tending to poor people’s energy needs before proceeding to produce other states. The colonial legal forms must be put aside, and pastoral land should be recognized as land inhabited by people.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of The Himalayan Research Institute Pakistan (THRIP)

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Dur-e-Adan holds a BS (Hons) in International Relations from Government College University (GCU) Lahore. Her research focuses on International Political Economy and energy dynamics across South Asia, alongside maritime security and geopolitical frameworks in the Indo-Pacific.