Green façades, enduring dependencies: European Union's battery and hydrogen strategies as modern neocolonialism

Abstract

The European Union's parallel strategies for achieving “strategic autonomy” in battery production and green hydrogen deployment, despite their framing as cornerstones of energy independence and decarbonization, demonstrate profound structural similarities that are deeply rooted in external dependencies and neocolonial logic. This letter contends that the pursuit of domestic capacity in these vital green sectors fundamentally relies on securing vast flows of critical raw materials, which are integral not only to batteries but also to the renewable energy generation and electrolyzer technologies underpinning both hydrogen and battery pathways. Furthermore, these ambitions depend on accessing immense renewable energy resources, which are often envisaged for import in the form of green hydrogen, its derivatives, or electricity, predominantly from the Global South. Both ambitions are further challenged by significant “ambition” and “implementation” gaps, compounded by prohibitive energy requirements for manufacturing and underdeveloped infrastructure for both resource circularity and energy distribution. The letter argues that the European Union's inward focus on capacity, which is ultimately constructed upon a foundation of external resource extraction and potentially inequitable energy agreements, risks replicating historical modes of unequal exchange and the externalization of environmental burdens. An analysis of neocolonial mechanisms, ranging from debt regimes and trade imbalances to land acquisition and conditional finance, reveals that the European Union's current green transition pathways risk functioning as “green colonialism,” thereby potentially entrenching global inequalities rather than cultivating a truly just energy future. Consequently, attaining genuine sustainability necessitates the deconstruction of these neocolonial frameworks and the nurturing of equitable global partnerships that can genuinely supersede the limitations of isolated European Union “autonomy”.