Sustainable energy use is rapidly developing, often accompanied by state support and patriotic political rhetoric. But the solar and wind energy industries are highly transnationalised and already inserted into global patterns of accumulation. This article argues that, while possibly resolving some of the most pressing conflicts between capitalism and environmental sustainability, green capitalism nevertheless fails to address the contradiction between labour and capital. Therefore, any progressive strategy for social transformation must link together the fair treatment of both nature and labour.
Ariel Schwarts , ‘The green guide to Obama’s state of the union address’, Fast Company (27 January 2010), <http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/what-did-we-learn-state-union-address >.
2.
Randy Paynter , ‘The US carbon footprint and good business: the rest of the world gets it, why don’t we?’, care2 (October 2009), <http://www.care2.com/causes/global-warming/blog >.
3.
Thomas Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded(New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008), pp. 172-3.
4.
Tadzio Mueller and Alexis Passadakis, ‘Green capitalism and the climate: it’s economic growth, stupid!’, Critical Currents (No. 6, 2009), pp. 54-61.
5.
Ban Ki Moon, ‘We need a big green jobs machine’ , San Francisco Chronicle (26 November 2008 ), <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/26/EDHN14BDV9.DTL>.
6.
Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi, ‘A path to sustainable energy’ , Scientific American (November 2009).
7.
James Kanter , ‘Pollution-fighting businesses set their own course in treaty vacuum’, New York Times(27 January 2010).
8.
New Energy Finance, ‘Clean energy league tables’, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (March 2009), <http://www.newenergymatters.com>.
9.
Jerry Harris, The Dialectics of Globalization: economic and political conflict in a transnational world (Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing , 2008).
10.
‘Global market shares 2008 - less Swoosh for leading Vestas’, ekopolitan(1 January 2010), <http:// www.ekopolitan.se/tech/wind-global-market-shares-2008-less-swoosh-leading-vestas>.
11.
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, Thilo Hanemann and Lutz Weischer, It Should Be a Breeze: harnessing the potential of open trade and investment flows in the wind energy industry(Washington, DC, World Resources Institute, Peterson Institute for International Economics, December 2009), p. 2.
Hillary Brenhouse , ‘China’s water needs create opportunities’ , New York Times(27 October 2009).
32.
Kirkegaard, Hanemann and Weischer, It Should Be a Breeze, op. cit., p. 17.
33.
United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008 (New York and Geneva, United Nations, 2008), pp. 40-1.
34.
Arnulf Jäger-Waldau , PV Status Report 2008 ( Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008), pp. 11, 124.
35.
Ibid., pp. 11-13.
36.
Ibid.
37.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Investment Report 2009 (United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2009), p. 229.
38.
Amy Hsuan , ‘Sanyo Electric opens new solar panel plant in Salem’, Oregonian(2 November 2009).
39.
<http://global.kyocera.com>.
40.
<http://www.sharp-solar.com>.
41.
Jäger-Waldau, PV Status Report 2008, op. cit., pp. 42-5.
42.
Ucilia Wang, ‘Suntech buys EI solutions, teams up with MMA’, greentechmedia.com (2 October 2008), <http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/suntech-buys-ei-solutions-teams-up-with-mma-1524/> ;.
United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008, op. cit., pp. 21, 35.
45.
Alex Pasternack , ‘Pollution casts shadow over Chinese solar’, treehugger.com (11 March 2008), < http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/solar_pollution_china.php>.
46.
Thomas Friedman , ‘Who’s sleeping now?’, New York Times(10 January 2010).
47.
United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008, op. cit., p. 28.
48.
<http://www.motech.com.tw>.
49.
For a state by state listing of renewable energy incentives, rules and regulations, see Jäger-Waldau, PV Status Report 2008, op. cit., pp. 63-7.
50.
Ibid., p. 83.
51.
Friedman, Hot, Flat and Crowded, op. cit., pp. 389-90.
52.
Abigail L. Ho , ‘SunPower to invest P27B in Philippines’ , Inquirer (20 April 2007), <http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20070420-61464/Sunpower_to_invest_P27B_in_Philippines>.
53.
Philip Mattera, High Road or Low Road? Job quality in the new green economy ( Washington, DC, Good Jobs First, 2009), p. 13
54.
Jäger-Waldau, PV Status Report 2008, op. cit., pp. 101-3.
55.
John Bellamy Foster, The Vulnerable Planet(New York, Monthly Review Press, 1994).
56.
John Broder, ‘Climate deal likely to bear big price tag’, New York Times(9 December 2009).
57.
Jeff Goodell , ‘As the world burns’, Rolling Stone(6 January 2010).
58.
United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008, op. cit.
59.
Mattera, High Road or Low Road?, op. cit., p. 6.
60.
Kim Chapman , ‘Chinese turbines fan "Made in USA" drive’ , San Francisco Chronicle(14 April 2010).
