NEW FRONTIERS OF EXPROPRIATION, IMPERIALISM´S OLD CLOTHES: Energy transition and the correlation of forces in the offshore wind industry for the production of green hydrogen in Brazil
Green hydrogen; offshore wind industry; energy transition; capital crisis.
One of the main promises of energy transition today is the production of energy from green hydrogen, which gains its alibi as a “green alternative” because it involves the use of electricity from what are widely known as “renewable” sources. As such, the green hydrogen project has been internationally intertwined with the advancement of the offshore wind industry, in the direction of consolidating the intensification of highly capitalized activities on the productive horizon of the energy transition, as well as the expansion and diversification of accumulation possibilities. The advancement of this industry, currently led by the European Union, has Brazilian territory as one of its targets, and has already made considerable progress in international relations and in the plans of the current federal government. However, this process has been met with resistance by traditional communities, social movements and researchers, due to the ecological, cultural, economic and social implications for these territories. This paper seeks to analyze the correlation of forces in the advancement of the offshore wind industry in the context of the green hydrogen project in Brazil, in order to discuss how it fits into the recovery strategy of capital in crisis. Based on a synthesis between historical-dialectical materialism and Latin American Political Ecology, our methodology will include a bibliographical review of specialized literature in the following areas of research: i) imperialism and the crisis of capital; ii) energy transition; iii) financialization of nature; viii) geopolitics of energy. The intention is to carry out an analysis of reports, statements, legislation from bodies and institutions in the sector, as well as monitoring public hearings, events promoted by the energy sector, conferences, seminars and round-tables. After introducing the topic, we begin by i) elaborating on the metabolic dynamics of capital and the role of energy production in the imperialist stage, historically situating this contradiction in the face of the capital crisis that began in the 1970s; Then, ii) we situate the advancement of the development of the “renewable” energy industry in the light of the debate on the financialization of nature, seeking to systematize the current situation of the global geopolitics of energy; then, iii) we develop an analysis of the correlation of forces of the advancement of the offshore wind industry for the production of green hydrogen in Brazil, in the context of the neo-industrialization of the first two years of the Lula III government and the continuity of the socio-environmental struggle in the current scenario of offshore wind expansion.