Renewables grabbing: Land and resource appropriations in the global energy transition

The global land rush intersects with the global energy transition and the emergence of new renewable energy frontiers demanding vast amounts of land and other resources. This chapter provides an overview of the processes of land and resource grabbing associated with renewable energies and discusses the environmental injustices emerging in the global energy transition. After a brief examination of the multiple drivers of the global energy transition and their specific implications for resource and land grabbing, a sectoral perspective on the four major renewable energy sources describes the emergence of new energy-land frontiers: biofuels, hydropower dams, mega solar power, and wind parks. For each frontier, the chapter points to key resources required and appropriated and discusses the related environmental conflicts and justice concerns that are arising. Close examination of these conflicts provides important lessons for moving toward a socially just energy transition.