Challenging green colonialism
In 2024, our ground-breaking insights and evidence-based proposals fortified efforts to ensure that the energy transition goes beyond ‘green’ and contributes to a more just and equitable world. Our annual flagship State of Power report pulled the curtain back on the corporate and financial actors that underpin our current unsustainable energy system, and raised the alarm about the threat of a green energy transition driven by dispossession, marginalisation, and exploitation of people and resources. With infographics, artwork, a podcast, and in-depth articles about energy systems and transitions in diverse countries and regions – from Lebanon to Sri Lanka, Colombia to Germany – the report was downloaded more than 3,000 times in in its first two months.
Our pioneering analysis of the energy transition in the Arab region continued to gain traction in 2024. Now published in book form and available in four languages, Dismantling Green Colonialism described a neo-colonialism lurking behind development of renewable energies in the region. A new article on green hydrogen revealed the significant costs of Tunisia’s plans, developed in cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), to export over six million tonnes of the fuel to Europe by 2050. TNI showed how the plan prioritises the EU’s energy needs over the needs and interests of the Tunisian people, including their access to food, water and energy. TNI’s work on green hydrogen in Tunisia attracted significant media attention, including an interview on Tunisia’s Mozaique FM, which has been viewed over 176,000 times.
Throughout the year, TNI was invited to speak about green colonialism in the Arab region at some 20 events, directly reaching more than 1800 people, including policymakers, academics and philanthropic donors. Highlights include a book launch in Tunisia, keynote speaking events at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development, a presentation to EU parliamentarians and policymakers, and webinars and lectures involving numerous universities and social justice organisations.
Mining, trade and an (un)just transition
As the world shifts towards renewable energy, demand for critical raw materials and minerals, such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, has exploded, with profound implications for resource-rich countries. We explored some of the challenging questions around mining in Digging Deeper: Conversations on Mining and Just Transitions, a series of interviews with members of TNI’s Fellowship and allies. Among other things, we explored how to ensure that resource-rich countries in the Global South can benefit from decarbonisation of the global economy, and issues such as the ‘Right to Say No’ to mining, material use reduction, climate finance and climate reparations.
With the report Raw Materials Rush, we zoomed in on the green transition in European Union trade policy, and warned of the risks for countries in the Global South. The report described how trade-related instruments, such as energy and raw materials chapters in free trade agreements, are designed to protect the EU’s supply of raw materials by preventing countries from implementing export restrictions, quotas, taxes and the like. Such agreements impede democratic decision-making and limit the possibilities for resource-rich countries in the Global South to develop their own manufacturing capacities. At the same time, extraction of raw materials increases pressure on communities, ecosystems and water resources, and often leads to violent conflict. The report suggested a different course, concluding with concrete, actionable recommendations to ensure a just and sustainable transition, including through trade policies that prioritise human rights and environmental protections, and preserve the space for governments to make sound policy.
By scrutinising specific cases and countries, we showed how the global raw materials rush is playing out in real time. With an op-ed in the EU Observer, we drew attention to current trade negotiations between Indonesia and the EU, and called on the EU to respect Indonesia’s long standing policy of keeping raw materials, specifically nickel, inside the country. In an article featuring case studies from Indonesia and Hungary, we explored the investment practices of the world’s dominant battery manufacturer, the Chinese multinational CATL. An examination of the supply chain of niobium – categorised by the EU as a critical raw material – revealed that its predominantly used in sectors such as aerospace and the military, which are decidedly not ‘green’. TNI’s findings raised important questions about the rhetoric and policies around critical raw materials, and whether these truly align with energy transition goals.
Our work on critical raw materials, trade and investment has garnered widespread interest, helping to shape the strategies and analysis of diverse social movements, networks and organisations. We were invited to present our work during guest lectures at universities in the Netherlands, the Philippines and Indonesia, an event during the World Trade Organisation’s 13th Ministerial Conference, and in webinars and meetings of the EU Raw Materials Coalition, the European Trade Justice Network, Oxfam International, the Asia Pacific Gathering on Mining and Human Rights, the Handel Anders coalition, among others. Our analysis has also attracted the attention of policymakers. At the invitation of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), we spoke on a panel during a webinar launch of UNCTAD’s report on inclusive diversification and energy transition, where we highlighted the need for a new trade and investment paradigm for a just energy transition.
Green industrial policy
In recent years, green industrial policy has risen high on the agendas of many governments. However, most research and policy developments have focused on (re)industrialisation of advanced economies in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, leaving a significant gap in understanding about how green industrial policy could be designed and implemented in countries in the Global South and contribute to a just transition. In 2024, TNI was pleased to launch a new initiative – in collaboration with partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South and Eastern Europe – to develop innovative theoretical insights, empirical evidence and practical guidance for the implementation of green industrial policies that drive both economic transformation and ecological sustainability.
In our work on green industrial policy, TNI is playing a unique, and vitally important, connector role by bringing together diverse actors from across the world: over 50 researchers have already joined our Global Knowledge Hub on Fair and Just Green Industrial Policy (to be publicly launched in 2025), through which we will explore possibilities, experiences and obstacles across countries and contexts. The Global Knowledge Hub took shape in meetings in Brazil and South Africa in 2024. In Rio, TNI co-organised an International Seminar on Green Industrial Policy in Latin America, hosted by the Postgraduate Programme in Political Sociology at the University Research Institute of Rio de Janeiro, which focused on the challenges and perspectives of green industrial policy in the context of Latin America. Participants included academics, activists, trade unionists, and state officials from Colombia, Uruguay and Brazil. The seminar resulted in a regional research agenda aimed at the development of industrial policy that is in harmony with ecological objectives and leads to increased economic and technological sovereignty. A similar seminar, co-organised with the University of Johannesburg and other allies, was attended by 26 people, including academics and researchers from several South African government agencies, and economic and labour policy institutes. The seminar helped bridge sectors and deepen understanding of the possibilities and challenges of green industrial policy. In both Johannesburg and Rio, international participants shared insights from their own contexts while drawing lessons from developments in Latin America and Southern Africa.
TNI is also bringing Global South perspectives into European green industrial policy debates, including as a member of GreenPaths, a European consortium and knowledge platform of resources in the field of green and just transitions. At GreenPaths’ inaugural seminar in Brussels, we provided a critical preliminary assessment of current methodologies for forecasting and evaluating green transition policies in Europe. We also shed light on the prevailing siloed thinking, and underlined the crucial intersections between economic and social impacts in the green transition, highlighting the challenges of energy poverty and global inequalities. The seminar was attended by some 30 people, including EU and national government officials, parliamentarians, representatives of civil society organisations and other interested stakeholders. Later in the year, we co-organised a webinar, the first in a Greenpaths series, focused on the resurgence of Green Industrial Policy in Europe and the World, and its implications for a just energy transition. The webinar has been viewed more than 100 times.
