The “Finance-Extraction-Transitions Nexus”: Geographies of the Green Transition in the 21st Century

Abstract

The hegemonic understanding of the green transition will require a massive surge in mineral extraction. We contend that this entails wider, radical shifts in 21^st century financialised capitalism. While there has been increasing critical interest in the role of finance capital in development, the links between finance, extraction, and the green transition have been largely overlooked. We fill this gap by arguing that the green transition, understood as a transformation of global capitalism, is marked by new rounds of appropriation, exploitation, and extraction, (re)producing dependencies for resource-rich Global South countries. These emergent geographies of the green transition are best evaluated through what we call the “finance-extraction-transitions nexus”. The nexus highlights the interplay between finance capital, mineral extraction, and the material, socio-economic, and environmental implications of the green transition. This provides new ways to theoretically, conceptually, and methodologically engage with resource extraction and the green transition in the age of financialised capitalism.