Philippe Le Billon is a professor with the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Oxford, and was a Fulbright Research Chair at UC Berkeley, a Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, a CARE Climate Leadership Fellow at Sciences Po Paris, and held positions at the Overseas Development Institute and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. A political ecologist working on the linkages between environment, development and security, he is the author of Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources (also published by Hurst); co-author of Oil; and co-editor of Environmental Defenders: Deadly Struggles for Life and Territory.

‘A tour de force, ruthless in its critique of the colonial contours of the energy transition, yet equally relentless in its search for socially just, ecologically rational and politically durable pathways to an actually greener future. Impressive.’

• A Note on Misuse Preamble 1. Introduction PART I: CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE TRANSITION IMPERATIVE 2. Climate Crisis, Green Transition, and Extractivism 3. The Extraction Gap 4. Green Rush Conflicts PART II: BEYOND THE BRIGHT SIDE OF GREEN 5. Cobalt: Digging Pits With Bare Hands 6. Rare Earths: Melting Hills Beyond the Border 7. Lithium: Evaporating Water in Deserts 8. Deepsea Mining: Scraping the Bottom 9. Outerspace Mining: Capitalizing on the Heavens PART III: RENEWABLE EXTRACTIVISM 10. Feeding the Machine: Biomass and Agro-Extractivism 11. Damming the Flow: Hydropower and Water Extractivism 12. Shining Bright: Solar Power 1 3. Winding Up: Wind Power 14. Greening Nukes: Nuclear Energy PART IV: BACK TO EARTH 15. Carbon, Sunshine, and Geoengineering 16. Offsetting Extraction 17. Ending Fossil Fuel Extractivism 18. Greening Extraction? 19. Degrowth and Decolonizing Extractivism 20. Conclusion Notes Index

Philippe Le Billon is a professor with the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Oxford, and was a Fulbright Research Chair at UC Berkeley, a Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, a CARE Climate Leadership Fellow at Sciences Po Paris, and held positions at the Overseas Development Institute and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. A political ecologist working on the linkages between environment, development and security, he is the author of Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources (also published by Hurst); co-author of Oil; and co-editor of Environmental Defenders: Deadly Struggles for Life and Territory.

‘A tour de force, ruthless in its critique of the colonial contours of the energy transition, yet equally relentless in its search for socially just, ecologically rational and politically durable pathways to an actually greener future. Impressive.’

• A Note on Misuse Preamble 1. Introduction PART I: CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE TRANSITION IMPERATIVE 2. Climate Crisis, Green Transition, and Extractivism 3. The Extraction Gap 4. Green Rush Conflicts PART II: BEYOND THE BRIGHT SIDE OF GREEN 5. Cobalt: Digging Pits With Bare Hands 6. Rare Earths: Melting Hills Beyond the Border 7. Lithium: Evaporating Water in Deserts 8. Deepsea Mining: Scraping the Bottom 9. Outerspace Mining: Capitalizing on the Heavens PART III: RENEWABLE EXTRACTIVISM 10. Feeding the Machine: Biomass and Agro-Extractivism 11. Damming the Flow: Hydropower and Water Extractivism 12. Shining Bright: Solar Power 1 3. Winding Up: Wind Power 14. Greening Nukes: Nuclear Energy PART IV: BACK TO EARTH 15. Carbon, Sunshine, and Geoengineering 16. Offsetting Extraction 17. Ending Fossil Fuel Extractivism 18. Greening Extraction? 19. Degrowth and Decolonizing Extractivism 20. Conclusion Notes Index