False solutions: How do fossil fuel companies reproduce their power through the energy transition

In response to mounting political and social pressure to transform their business models, the fossil fuel industry is attempting to portray itself as “part of the solution” to the climate crisis by emphasising its investments into renewable energy, biofuels, green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and carbon offsets. However, environmental justice organisations have labelled these technologies as “false solutions” that do not address the root causes of the climate crisis and entrench environmental injustice and fossil fuel companies' power. In this paper, we formalise and operationalise a definition of false solutions by engaging with Gramsci's conception of hegemony and incumbent strategies, in particular the concept of trasformismo. We extend neogramscian theory by proposing a model of reproduction and reinforcement of power within and between three power domains: ideas, infrastructure, and institutions. Empirically, we explore the environmental conflicts that arise around the deployment of false solutions through a global analysis of 48 case studies in the EJAtlas and a coding methodology that identifies processes of power reproduction and reinforcement. We show that false solutions comprise an array of technologies that prolong fossil fuel hegemony and neutralise socio-political pressures for systemic transformation, thereby sustaining current extractive economic models that reproduce environmental conflicts and injustices.