Between 2014 and 2020, the hydrogen industry had access to over €1 billion in public funds for its projects thanks to the public-private research partnership between the European Commission and the lobby group Hydrogen Europe. This partnership has been key in creating the hydrogen hype, as well as ensuring more public funds flow to Hydrogen Europe members in the years to come. It is no coincidence that the Commission’s European Hydrogen Strategy, is worryingly similar to Hydrogen Europe’s demands, including goals and investments needed for hydrogen both inside and outside the EU, which industry costs at €430 billion by 2030. In the third and final  webinar of our series, we’ll look at how the EU, blinded by the hydrogen industry (which very often coincides with the fossil gas industry), is ensuring regulatory and financial support to Hydrogen projects including access to new and existing EU funding streams, fostering the resource grabbing outside the EU and promoting a wave of neo-colonial extractivism.  Speakers:  Frank Vanaerschot, Director at Counter Balance: Hydrogen in the Global Gateway and in the new EIB energy investment policy  Tobias Kalt, Political ecologist, University of Hamburg: Between green extractivism and energy justice: competing strategies in South Africa’s hydrogen transition  Natalia Lueje, Territorial coordinator, Sustentarse: The role of EU in Chile's hydrogen promotion  Moderator: Eva Pastorelli, CEE Bankwatch Network  This webinar is organized by ReCommon and Observatori del Deute en la Globalització within the “Citizens’ Observatory for Green Deal Financing” project, financed by European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).  Participation is free of charge. Please register here to participate. Italian, English and Spanish simultaneous translation will be provided. 

Presentation of The Rare-Earth Elements Impacts and Conflicts Map Monday November 20, 17.30-19 CET: international Webinar, to present the featured map and some of its case studies, and dig deeper into the key challenges and impacts associated with the extraction of Rare Earth Elements. REGISTRATION HERE.  Speakers:  Mariana Walter, Researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA): Phd. (Environmental Justice Atlas/Institute of Environmental Science and Technologies, Autonomous University of Barcelona) Alfons Pérez, researcher, Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG) Volahery Andriamanantenasoa, CRAAD-OI, Madagascar Lee Tan, Aid Watch, Australia Moderator: John Pfeffer, Institute for Policy Studies Spanish and French simultaneous translation will be provided.

The planet is likely to surpass the 1.5C global warming threshold. At the same time, Bloomberg New Energy Finance has recently stated that “the outlook for energy transition (looks) extremely bright.” What’s going wrong? This webinar will expose the business models of “green” multinationals, alongside the private market model that underpins them. Join us, and find out how these companies are wrecking the climate and preventing policy makers, social movements and communities from building real solutions: public power systems that can democratically decarbonise society. 21 November 2023 , 15:00 - 16:00 CET Sign up for a far-reaching discussion about critical Energy Transition analyses and social movement developments. More information

What lies behind the reform of the European Union's fiscal framework? Spain closed the EU presidency with an agreement of the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers: the reform of EU fiscal rules. This agreement could again entail cuts, although investments in the green and digital transition and in security and defence policies could be favoured. Is this the European Union we want? To address the implications of the reform of the EU fiscal framework in the context of the approaching elections, we will meet in the fourth session of the ODG debates with our colleague Nicola Scherer and Pere Ortega (Centre Delàs). Monday 5th february at 18h in La Fede

Transition proposals need feminisms to imagine more just futures. We’ll discuss it with Corinna Dengler and Júlia Martí next Tuesday February 20. Simultaneous interpretation available in English and Catalan.

Our colleague Alfons Pérez will participate in the round table ‘Geopolitics of eco-social transitions: decarbonisation consensus, green deals and eco-fascist drifts’, together with Maristella Svampa, Sabrina Fernandes and Alberto Coronel. The round table will be moderated by Tom Kucharz and is part of the Latin America-Europe Dialogues conference to be held on 8 and 9 May in Madrid. See full program here.

"Shaping together a bright energy future ", this is the promise of the gas network operators. Join us in this webinar to explore what is the reality behind the green energy that Fluxys, Enagas and Snam promote, as they plan a neo-colonial energy future centred on hydrogen. Recommon, Ecologistas en Accion, ODG and Vredesactie will discuss how we can put pressure on these companies to respect both climate needs and human rights. simultaneous interpretation available in English, Spanish and Italian. Sign up

Against false green solutions, decolonial and ecofeminist pacts for global justice. We invite you to consider the real changes needed if we want to tackle big challenges such as severe drought, macro-projects, the care crisis... without forgetting its global dimension. We will listen to the members of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South, as well as other allies from Europe and North Africa, to denounce together the injustices of the green capitalist transition, and to sketch together the alternative futures that we imagine. See full program here. sIGN UP  

La energía pasa de ser esa forma de sustento vital que permite mantener y sostener las vidas, a ser un vector que permite el control, la profundización del dominio y el extractivismo. Es la fórmula que viene a permitir que todo lo vivo se convierta en mercancía: desde el territorio hasta la vida de las personas. En este segundo encuentro dialogaremos con Esperanza Martínez, Fray Rodrigo Péret y Alfons Pérez, sobre la arquitectura demencial – criminal de esta fórmula. Abordaremos la cuestión de la Geopolítica de la transición hegemónica: socios y minerales necesarios en el plan global de apropiación de bienes comunes para garantizar la ‘seguridad energética’ y los modos de vida imperiales. Organizado por Asociación Bienaventurados los pobres y CCFD Terre Solidaire. Sesión online, requiere inscripción previa.

The rise of demand for critical minerals and, specifically, rare earths has accelerated the race for raw materials, and it reproduces the colonial patterns of land grabbing. Is urban mining an alternative to extractivism? We discuss these issues with Martín Lallana, researcher on Ecosocial Transition, Felix Best Agorvor, from recycling start-up 5 Seconds Connect Ghana, and Clàudia Bosch, from SETEM. Moderated by ODG's researcher, Júlia Martí. Organized with the Institute for Policy Studies. If you could not join the session, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/4ThUZPfuCyk

Screening of the BBC produced documentary 'Can Degrowth Save The World?', in which our colleague Clàudia Custodio, researcher in Climate Justice, has participated. Prior registration

The Critical Minerals Observatory is a new initiative from the European Network of Corporate Observatory (ENCO); a knowledge hub (critical space) to exchange ideas, resources and develop collaborative research. This Observatory looks at the strategies of transnational corporations and governments (in the Global North) to secure supplies of critical minerals in the name of the energy transition. The launch of the Observatory will take place during the Raw Materials Week, to expose the necessity to monitor the implementation of the CRMA and its negative impacts on communities and the environment. During the presentation, we will discuss  the corporate impunity of one of the largest mining companies worldwide: Rio Tinto. We will hear the voices of affected communities in Madagascar and Serbia. The invited speakers are: Zo Randriamaro, the founder and Coordinator of the Research and Support Center for Development Alternatives – Indian Ocean (CRAAD-OI),  based in Madagascar. Jovan Rajik (Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute, Serbia) Steven Rolf, researcher at the (De)Globalization (MDG) research team at the University of Sussex and King’s College London Moderation by Olivier Petitjean (Observatoire des Multinationales, ENCO)   Previous registration required at the following link.