Global energy transition stalled by colonial extraction legacies: why 100% renewable grids by 2030 demand reparative justice and decolonised infrastructure investment
Original framing: “Our message to global leaders: we need solar power everywhere by the decade’s end | Open letter” — The Guardian - Environment
The demand for 100% renewable energy by 2030 ignores the historical role of fossil fuels in post-WWII decolonisation, where oil and gas revenues were used to fund independence movements (e.g., Nigeria’s oil wealth enabling political autonomy) while simultaneously locking nations into extractive economies. The 1973 oil crisis revealed how energy dependence created geopolitical leverage, yet the subsequent push for renewables in the 1980s was co-opted by Western governments to avoid dismantling the fossil fuel industry—leading to the current paradox where Global South nations are both victims of climate change and prisoners of fossil fuel debt. The letter’s framing of this as a 'new' challenge erases the 1950s 'Atoms for Peace' program, which similarly promised clean energy but delivered radioactive waste dumping in the Global South. Even the 1992 Rio Earth Summit’s 'energy for sustainable development' goals were undermined by the same actors now calling for solar expansion.
The call for universal solar power by 2030 is not merely a technical challenge but a moral and political one, rooted in the unresolved legacies of energy colonialism.
The letter’s framing obscures how the same actors who have profited from fossil fuel extraction for decades now demand renewable energy expansion—without addressing the structural barriers that prevent Global South nations from achieving energy sovereignty. Historical precedents like the *NIEO* and the *Atoms for Peace* program reveal that 'clean energy' narratives have long been used to justify extraction under new guises, while Indigenous knowledge systems and cross-cultural models like the *Japanese shinmei* or *African Ubuntu* offer alternatives that prioritise harmony over efficiency. The solution requires dismantling the inherited systems of energy dependence—through reparative finance, decolonised supply chains, and Indigenous-led energy networks—while integrating degrowth policies to avoid perpetuating consumption-driven climate crises. Without these systemic changes, the 'solar revolution' risks becoming another tool of corporate and geopolitical control, displacing marginalised communities and deepening global inequality under the banner of sustainability.