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Paper short abstract

Driven by the EU Green Deal, the expansion of renewable energy triggers “eco-frictions.” This paper examines an Italian photovoltaic project, showing how anthropological input in impact assessments can challenge “wasteland” narratives and advance multispecies justice.

Paper long abstract

The EU Green Deal’s decarbonization drive is accelerating renewable energy deployment, reshaping landscapes and communities, and generating intense socio-ecological “frictions” (Benadusi 2019) across Europe. Southern Italy has seen a surge in projects that frequently exceed regional targets, amplifying these tensions. This paper ethnographically examines the contentious reconfiguration of land, value, and expertise around a large-scale photovoltaic project in Sardinia.

Drawing on the submission of “Anthropological Observations” within an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)—combined with long-term ethnography of EIA documentation—I argue that current assessments are biased toward a narrow biophysical focus, reducing both human and non-human actors to vague elements. Further, adopting a multispecies perspective, I analyze how non-human agency is represented in project documents.

The paper illustrates how anthropological knowledge reveals the complex human and non-human dynamics that constitute local environments, thereby challenging the reductionist “wasteland” rhetoric often deployed by green energy corporations to justify their projects. Initially dismissed as “merely personal research,” the anthropological input ultimately pressured the project applicants to commission “voluntary” expert reports on flora and fauna—reports that inadvertently confirmed the complex multispecies assemblages of ecologically significant species.

This case reveals how EIA procedures can become sites of contestation, where standardized sustainability visions risk enacting “green grabbing” by erasing existing socio-ecological relations (Schweitzer et al. 2017). Anthropology does not inherently oppose energy projects but can expose the sacrificial logic embedded in biased assessments. Finally, I argue that engaged anthropological practice offers vital tools to challenge extractivist narratives and promote multispecies justice within energy transition governance.