Presentation short abstract

In Southeast Asia, hydropower projects link clean energy to China's expansion. Grassroots activists form alliances to seek accountability for social/ecological impacts while exploring Chinese development as an alternative. How are the Mekong and activism transformed by China's climate solutions?

Presentation long abstract

Electricity is intricately intertwined with the politics of the Anthropocene, serving as both the culmination of ongoing ecological infrastructuralisation and a potential transformative force through renewables. This shift marks a departure from the climate-altering impact of fossil fuels, making clean electricity a focal point in global climate activism. The crucial questions now revolve around the nature and purpose of this electricity.

In Southeast Asia, the rise of clean energy is closely tied to China’s expansionist pursuits, evident in mega-projects like the interconnected hydropower dams along the Mekong River. Grassroots and indigenous activists in the region grapple with forging international alliances to hold China-backed corporations and local governments accountable for the social and ecological consequences of carbon-neutral growth. Simultaneously, they explore Chinese-led development as a postcolonial alternative to the prevailing American world order.

By analysing a series of oral history interviews collected with key stakeholders in the SEA hydropower sector (indigenous and climate activists, conservationists, NGO practitioners, Chinese hydro engineers and scientists), this paper investigates China-led decarbonisation from an emic perspective. It asks: On what varying intellectual, economic, and ethical grounds are current Chinese hydropower projects in SEA pursued and/or fought against? Whose future does get counted in, and whose present gets counted out, by Chinese decarbonising efforts? What is made of SEA’s riverine communities as such efforts displace and dispossess residents to generate green energy and new economic opportunities? What is made of a river once it is viewed as a climate solution?