Articoli. Climate chenge and geography
No. 2 (2022)
Agents of destabilisation and the energy transition
Abstract
The article investigates the ‘agents of destabilisation’ i.e., the subjects who by eroding the power of the fossil bloc facilitate a rapid transition to low-carbon socio-energy systems. The agents who modify the social, economic, and political contexts in which the fossil bloc operates are considered ‘primary’ forces and contribute to erode instrumental and discursive forms of power. The agents who use market-based, political, administrative, and legal instruments to modify the behaviour of the fossil bloc are christened ‘operational’ forces and aim to undermine its institutional and material forms of power. This categorisation, by connecting specific agents to specific forms of the fossil bloc power, provides an analytical reference for carrying out empirical studies on energy transactions.
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