“The energy and climate crisis cannot be solved unless grassroots movements are able to abolish the current economic, political and social order and build non-capitalist, egalitarian and participatory societies. We cannot expect governments to do this.... We can build our own energy systems—for the common good, not for private profit. We have the tools and the experience. It
can be done. It depends on us.”—from the Introduction

As the world’s energy system is on the verge of far reaching change, it is also coming up for grabs. A worldwide struggle over who controls the sector, and for what purposes, is intensifying. It is becoming increasingly clear, both to capitalist planners and anti-capitalist struggles alike, that some form of “green capitalism” is now on the agenda. We are told from all sides that it is, finally, time to “save the planet” in order to “save the economy,” yet what remains unsaid is the fact that the transition process
to a new energy system is, in effect, the next round of global class struggle over control of key means of production and subsistence.

Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution is the first and only book to combine systematic analysis with stories of concrete developments and struggles within the global energy sector. From the social struggles at the heart of the existing, predominantly fossil fuel-based, energy sector to the emerging alliances, conflicts, and hierarchies that have come to define the globally-expanding renewable energy sector, this impressive collection ultimately poses the question of whether a transition to a new energy system will take place within the framework of capitalism, or as part of a wider process of building new social relations which seek to go beyond capitalism—as part of a collective search for an emancipatory way out of the worst economic-financial, and increasingly political, crisis since the Great Depression.

Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution includes over 50 chapters, written by people from approximately 20 countries in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Asia. All contributors are organizers and researchers with years of experience in different strategic locations within the world-wide energy sector. The book forms a collective map, based on the view as seen from some of the many different actors within the energy sector.
 

With contributions from: Patrick Bond | George Caffentzis | China Labour Bulletin | Sophie Cooke | Corporate Watch
UK | Peter Custers | Energy Watch Group | Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria | F.A.R.M.A. (Fight
for Alternative Renewable Methods and Autonomy) | Focus on the Global South | Marc Gavaldà | IG Metall | Ewa Jasiewicz
| Tom Keefer | Integrated Sustainable Energy and Ecological Development Association (INSEDA) | International
Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) | Jane Kruse | Nancy LaPlaca | Les Levidow
| Preben Maegaard | Esperanza Martínez | Gavan McCormack | Midnight Notes and Friends | Alejandro Montesinos Larrosa
| Evo Morales | Conrado Moreno Figueredo | Camila Moreno | Tadzio Müller | Trevor Ngwane | Observatorio de la
Deuda en la Globalización | Observatorio de Multinacionales en América Latina (OMAL) | Oilwatch | Alexis Passadakis |
Helena Paul | Bruce Pobdonik | Peter Polder | Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) | Klaus Rave | Tatiana
Roa Avendaño | Saving Iceland | Self-Reliance and Environment Technologies Unit at “Sapienza” University of Rome |
Macdonald Stainsby | Jessica Toloza | Shannon Walsh | World Council for Renewable Energy | and World Information
Service on Energy (WISE).