Green Data Capitalism: ICT and the Intra-Class Conflicts of Climate Action
2024-11-05 5 November, 12 - 2 pm, online (Zoom)*, Climate Futures Workshop with Anne Pasek *If you'd like to attend please contact Inga Luchs at inga.luchs@leuphana.de to receive the Zoom credentials
It's increasingly understood that climate change is, in large part, a story of class struggle. Traditionally, this is taken to mean conflicts between the wealthy and the working class, or between Global North and Global South. However, as climate action inches forward, it is becoming clearer that intra-class conflicts among the owners of capital are also an important part of this story. In the past five years, incredibly well-resourced ICT companies have begun to mobilize lobbying dollars and business strategies in support of policies that could result in significant (if not yet sufficient) shifts in global carbon management to the detriment of fossil fuel capital. There are, after all, monopoly profits to be won by the platforms and infrastructures required to monitor and verify this environmental work. However, at the same time, the ICT sector has never been more entangled with the energy sector, with oil and gas prospecting and efficiency measures serving as one of the few verified business cases for the massive speculative investment poured into machine learning tools, and with ICT companies themselves dealing with a wide variety of traditional and unconventional power companies in an attempt to meet data centres' endless appetite for more electricity. In order to parse these contradictions, and to have a clearer sense of how to organize with and against this ambiguous set of actors, it's necessary to theorize the emerging characteristics of 'green data capitalism,' describing how the business strategies, infrastructures, and innovation cycles of today's large ICT powers understand the politics of energy transitions and how best to make a profit therein.
Anne Pasek is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Media, Culture, and the Environment, cross-appointed between Trent University’s Department of Cultural Studies and the Trent School of the Environment. She studies the cultural politics of climate change, the climate impacts of digital networks, and the prospects for energy transitions in the research sector.
There are two texts available for preparation. Please contact Ina Dubberke at ina.dubberke@leuphana.deto receive the material or for any further questions.