Paper short abstract:

This paper traces a longer history of energy transitions and recurrent industrial crisis in the sulcis area of Sardinia paying special attention to the role of labor and the various manifestations of the local and regional state in contentious negotiation between environmental and economic concerns.

Paper long abstract:

Multiple waves of deindustrialization have left the Sulcis area of South-Western Sardinia with some of the highest youth unemployment rates and the lowest per capita income of the country. Today, Sulcis sits at the very frontline of the energy transition. On the one hand, the area represents several of the “black” activities that we urgently need to move away from in to decarbonize the economy: the area has a long history of metal and coal mining and represents and heavy-industry exception to the otherwise service-oriented economy of Sardinian Island. On the other hand, the whole of Sardinia is currently experiencing a massive and increasingly contested international interest in renewable energy projects. This paper traces a longer history of energy transitions and recurrent industrial crisis in the sulcis area. From the forceful expansion of coal extraction under the ‘autarkic’ policy of 1930s Fascist Italy, through the post-war US-supported turn to oil, to current mining and industrial closure; reconversion plans and contested green investments. Through this arc of local history, the paper pays special attention to the role of labor and the various manifestations of the local and regional state in contentious negotiation between environmental and economic concerns.