Fossil Capitalism

and the earth system crisis!

The planet’s delicate balance has been destroyed by excessive energy use. Agree or disagree? Capitalism and fossil fuels are inextricably linked. Agree or disagree? Current techno-industrial civilization and the velocity of everything technological, is an outcome of cheap, infinite, energy. Agree or disagree? Every war, invasion, bombardment and military offensive is dependent on energy viz-a-viz Fossil Capitalism. Agree or disagree? China consumes nearly 50% of the world’s Fossil Fuels currently. Agree or disagree? American imperialism is at war with various other Petro-States for a long while now. Agree or disagree? About 92,000 flights happen everyday, thanks to global Fossil Capitalism. Agree or disagree? High income nations consume excessive amounts of energy. Agree or disagree? President Vladimir Putin, premier Xi Ping, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the supreme Ayatollah, prime minister Mark Carney, are all devoted to the same Fossil Capital based growth and power, as is a Donald Trump or Nicolas Maduro and almost every leader and politician. Agree or disagree?

In any case, Fossil Capital is a term coined by Andreas Malm — a “world phenomena” that governs all the vital aspects of our globalized world, that we take for granted. Yet Fossil Capitalism is not specific to an economy, nation or society. Nor is it just a natural resource or subject to quality of life. It is Fossil Capital that energizes (and sustains) current techno-industrial civilization. A phenomena which can be understood as the “wheels of progress and the wheels of destruction”. The two being coeval. The same Fossil Capital also happens to be the leading driver of global warming, environmental destruction, escalation of war and militarism, geopolitical ruptures, global displacement and climate change — better theorized by Joy James as a “quantum entanglement ”.

The following narrative is a comprehensive analysis, as to how Fossil Capitalism adversely impacts not just the bio-physical, but also the political, social, ecological and psychological well-being of human beings and life on the planet. The destructive power of Fossil Capitalism is far greater than the entire species put together. Four themes that unbox the devastating phenomenon and outcome of Fossil Capital — stepping beyond the noise (and speculative garbage) of geopolitical discourse and neo-reactionary analysis.

It is sufficiently clear now, that the world’s poorest are suffering or paying the highest price of not just climate change, but also widespread political, social and ecological collapse. Roughly 3.75 billion people “emit practically nothing” according to Stephen Pacala, (Princeton Environment Institute). There are thousands of deeper studies, that merge into a global picture as the “hardest hit are the least responsible or perhaps not at all”. (Facing The Anthropocene, Ian Angus). Hence, the “wheels of progress” and the “wheels of destruction” are hogtied to “unmitigated capital, material and energy growth”.

Planetary managers tell us “it is vital that no one is pushed out or left behind as countries take action to transition to low-carbon and environmentally sustainable economies and societies.” (United Nations ETGT). They do so while discounting the very destructive role of Fossil Capitalism, that also happens to sponsor and build a range of green colored reforms viz-a-viz abstractions. The quest to halt “unprecedented planetary emergencies” coupled with a “world system that is currently consuming excess energy worth 900,000 Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bombs everyday!” (Tad DeLay, Denial And Climate Change). At a global and local level, the same question comes up again and again, as to “what we must do to meet the challenge?”. Fossil Capitalism’s power to destroy the biosphere is orchestrated by a specific type of intellect and society, and not all humans in general. Hence the current epoch should be titled Capitalocene — instead of the prevailing consensus, called the Anthropocene.

The broad consensus, links a “state of stagnation” to energy shocks and shortage — that less extraction and use, will lead to “worse conditions of life” or loss of current exuberance. So be it the case with China or America, Russia or Europe, Australia or Brazil, Iran or Japan, India or Mexico, Nigeria or Algeria — all nations and almost every market and “growth opportunity” is orchestrated and webbed within Fossil Capitalism. That Fossil Capitalism is all about continuous cheap energy, a phenomena which consequently delivers vast amounts of cheap food, cheap labor, cheap clothes, cheap gadgets, cheap vehicles, cheap transport and a billion other cheap things. For example, the internet, speed of computing, cloud storage, data and artificial intelligence, as fact and phenomena, would never actualize without the continuous outflow of cheap energy at a global scale. “Never mind the giant devaluation that goes on 24/7, of Nature and the working class population of the world” (A History Of The World In Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel and Jason Moore). Then only we all vouch for an a global economy on steroids

Contrary to emerging scientific and social evidence, the global consensus continues to strive for disaster management. Via changing technologies, via personal reform or worse blame the entire species, all human beings, as complicit in the “world system crisis”. Regardless, a new and dangerous stage in planetary evolution has begun. Significant parts of Earth are becoming uninhabitable, and civilization itself is on its way out — the unthinkable emerges, especially when we reckon with ecology and the “globalized impoverishment and misery of the working class”. Equally we should be wary of the self-serving neoliberal mindset and its “green colored revolutions” — especially popular “catastrophism” that weakens efforts to actually heal the planet. “The indoctrinated or plain wicked folks who continue to blame environmental disasters on overpopulation and over-consumption…” (A Redder Shade of Green, Intersections of Science and Socialism).

Reason, Causation and Phenomena — knowledge that strives to clarify the interplay between reality, explanation and experience. One can utilize such a dialectic to understand the power of Fossil Capital — as a global detonator, as impact and how it innately orchestrates capitalism itself.

Airports, maritime traffic, railways, harbors, factories, logistical hubs, highways, warehouses, shopping malls, stadiums, parking lots etc are the extended arteries of Fossil Capitalism. Mass urbanization, mainstream culture and entertainment, the internet, etc yet again as an outcome of Fossil Capitalism and its ability to fuel expansion. And our relentless energy addiction. Shell, BP, Total and Chevron utilize “sponsorship as philanthropy” to tackle the problem of “low credibility and trust” amid “rising societal expectations on climate action”. Both fossil fuel and renewable energy corporations are big on sponsorships, as a tool for shaping popular opinion, feeding lies and directing public engagement.

Fossil Capital sponsorship is deeply embedded within Football, Cricket, Tennis, Basketball, Formula One, Golf, Baseball and thousands of sports teams, events and infrastructure across the world. “At Aramco we understand that progress takes a team”. Icons such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Nikola Jovic, Serena Williams, Aaron Judge, have all been “successfully recruited to spend time in the Middle East as part of sponsorship deals” (Fossil Fuel Sponsorships, Dirty Money). According to The Guardian, Fossil Fuel based sponsorship is worth over $5.6bn annually. The figure is obviously understated, because it fails to count the sponsorship deals attested by nationalized oil and gas corporations, in countries like China, India, Iran, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, etc.

Fossil Capital has infiltrated the social milieu across the world, serving as platforms for community engagement and the celebration of local history and culture — within community fairs, art exhibitions, concerts, music festivals, etc. Funding by oil and gas corporations, be they private or nationalized, is obviously an attempt to “divert attention from their role in fueling the climate crisis”. Whats actually hideous is the fact, that hundreds of millions of people allover the world actually love it, in the name of sports, national pride and culture. Equally prevalent is Fossil Capital within education, institutions of higher knowledge and training. The association and partnership ensures the outreach of Fossil Capital, to a point it becomes impossible to account for — omnipresent almost, inside the “Web Of Life” (Jason Moore).

“Big Oil exploits its partnerships with some of America’s most trusted institutions, to greenwash its image, block progress on climate action, and avoid accountability for the escalating costs of climate-driven disasters” said American Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The concern comes across as genuine yet late, given the outreach of Fossil Capital, embedded within sports, mainstream media, advertising, contemporary culture, leisure and tourism, even right down to think-tanks, policy makers and major international news / media channels. Take the example of Al Jazeera — “a statutory private foundation for public benefit” owned by the monarchy of Qatar (Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani). The same monarchy happens to own “proven reserves of gas… the third-largest in the world, exceeding 7000 km³ (250 trillion cubic feet)”. For that very reason, Al Jazeera and all its journalism can never utter the term Fossil Capitalism or address the role played by the Petro-States in accelerating global warming, climate change, war and militarism. Fossil Capital regimes and the unspoken Petro-Censorship! The same censorship is practiced inside utterly “evil paradises” like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, the biggest bastions of superfluous wealth. Zones of material worship, cutting edge technology, indentured labor, gold, prostitution and the dazzling architectural success of Fossil Capitalism.

As a historic process, animated by fossil fuels, capitalism could concentrate production as well as labor — at an unprecedented scale and speed. The timeline is barely two hundred years in the making — “Empires Of Excess Energy”. Fossil Capitalism did so, again and again around the planet “at the most profitable sites and during the most convenient hours, as it continues to do today” (Andreas Malm). Take the story of coal fired economies — from 19th century England (10+ million tons), to 20th century Japan (46+ million tons) to India’s 21st century record haul (1 billion tons in 2023-2025). A global process which underlines the long term prospects of Fossil Capitalism. No less wondrous is the emissions explosion in China (1995-2020) from the original triumph of coal to the “stalled shift to so called renewables”.

The double irony of Net Zero, which needs all the Fossil Capital available to achieve the goal in less than 24 years. The same Net Zero is hooked to various “regulations and conditions” that are being abandoned by a range of economic institutions, banks, think tanks and even those who signed previous environmental commitments.

Is crucial to highlight the role of Fossil Fuels in the very production of renewable energy based technology. The much speculated Post-Petro world “shapes social reality” of our age. Well, a part of it at least. What appears like diverging paths, of Fossil Capital and Renewable Energy are both in sync with the old maxims of capitalism and it’s utterly destructive “Myth Of Cheap Nature”. The “Climate Apocalypse” framed by first-world imaginaries are not just ridiculous but utterly mediocre, especially when placed next to global unfolding subjectivity — of genocide, starvation, exodus, preposterous loss of biodiversity and habitat, rising social disruption and scarcity of everything important. Andreas Malm, makes it clear that “turning down the heat will mean a radical overthrow of the current economic order”. Yet, the current “world order” is merely one extension of Fossil Capitalism, administered by the class which most benefits from it. And that minority will never give up on the phenomena, the power and its ability to own, control, profit and even destroy rival nations, even its own population if need be.

“War gives America meaning” (Chris Hedges). A profound remark, from which appears the role of Fossil Capitalism, which keeps the much troubled empire going. Is the very reason, imperialism sustained by Fossil Fuels can bring about rapid destruction, economic disruption, debt escalation, market shocks as well as mitigate the “political theory of war and peace” (David J. Galbreath). Indeed, a set of people are convinced that a “class of pedophiles and messianic monsters” have come to unleash WW3! The empire in precipitous decline or rival nations gaining power, is a ceaseless process. Albeit, the accumulation of capital necessitates continued expansion of an energy base — of coal, oil, and natural gas, and no nation is exempt, big or small, poor or rich. Hence “foreign policy structure” is a mere component within the world praxis of Fossil Capital.

Invade Venezuela and kidnap Nicolas Maduro, or assassinate the very supreme leader of Iran. Having already destroyed Petro-States like Iraq, Libya and Syria. Already having killed and displaced millions of innocent people. The same Fossil Capital backed military architecture, can target and kill 165 girls inside a school in Iran, as well as drop 2000 pound bombs on innocent children, women and men in Gaza. Detonator landscapes that appear in the pathways of Fossil Capitalism.

Sufficiently clear, that Genocide and Fossil Capital are also coeval. The United Nations Security Council protects Fossil Capitalism above all else. The same Fossil Capital also makes every rival nation“forever vigilant”. The terrible entanglement of Technology, Fossil Fuels and the rise of boundless warfare. The material dialectic of Fossil Capitalism is a guiding principle as much as part of political theory. The common devotion of seemingly bitter enemies, is cheap energy. Fossil Capitalism is not about sovereignty or citizen’s security, but a quest which has given us a world, where “war has no beginning, an incursion, an attack, a death or no end, no ceasefire, no peace treaty, no troop withdrawal… who or what is the enemy?” (David J. Galbreath).

We can imagine that politics still matters. That geopolitical ruptures, invasions, insurgency, counter-insurgency and war can all be analyzed, to make objective sense. That power is still projected. Is why there are thousands of geopolitical experts, academics, journalists, writers, non-state actors, activists and analysts, crying out their verdict everyday in dozens of languages. Within such media, be it mainstream or independent one apocalyptic moment follows another, on a daily basis. “Conversations which are scholarly and responding to the immediate crisis… responding explicitly on the illegal and immoral war” (Comparative Wars, Political Economy, and Infrastructure In Iran - Jadaliyya). “We have been proven correct in our analysis” (Decline And Fall). “When we entered this utterly foolish war, they believed it would be similar to Venezuela … fall like a butterfly sting like a bee.” (John Mearsheimer). “Trump and Netanyahu are the most dangerous men on the planet… Iran is fulfilling the promise” (The David Hearst Podcast, Middle East Eye). “Israeli society in evolution… an outcome of depravity, hate, lies and xenophobia… which makes the rest of the world anti-Semitic” (Miko Peled). “IDF fired more than million cluster bombs in Lebanon during the last ten days” (Haaretz).

Remarkable is the depth (and speed) of such analysis, reflection and criticism — yet as alienated and incomplete, as speculative or subjective. The “oracles and pundits of apocalypse” almost never address the common devotion between the two warring sides, the presence and the phenomena that sustains every war, every military campaign, invasion and bombing, the throughput of the entire military industrial complex viz-a-viz Fossil Capitalism. Instead they prefer to nitpick over collateral damage or hyper-sonic missiles or ceasefire deals or the Iron-Dome or Russian petrol or Chinese drones or strategic confusion, or eminent WW3 and what not! Hence we imagine that politics, international diplomacy and national sovereignty still matter. Self anointed geopolitical gurus (mostly men) situated on the Left, Center and Right never utter the terms Fossil Fuels and Fossil Capitalism — their tacit loyalty to cheap energy or abject ignorance. Instead, all the historicism and speculation as two popular surrogate activities of our times.

War strategy, geopolitics, propaganda, counter-propaganda, conspiracy and even ridicule can all go on, as part of popular media techniques, as much as the ritual subjectivity and neo-reactionary discourse. Unfortunately, that shared culture most often negates the devotion to the absolute power of Fossil Capital. The geographies, choke points and arteries of oil, gas and coal are coeval with “Petro-Violence”. One cannot deny the above phenomena. What makes for shared complicity — of nations, regimes and Petro-States.

Theocracy or democracy or autocracy, all dependent on Fossil Capitalism. Is why Michael Parenti had remarked decades ago “eventually God is a financier… the divine guidance of capitalism… every president of the United States is compelled to follow”.

The deep involvement of military and defense strategists, based not only in America, but also in Russia, Europe, China, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Algeria, Turkey, Brazil, India and dozens of other smaller economies together, unravel the shared networks of Fossil Capitalism and “Petro-Militarism”. Cause and effect. Mechanisms of energy control include blacklisting, import and export rationing, property seizures, asset freezes, trade embargo, and preclusive purchasing, as well as financial blockade. When all the above mechanisms fail to deliver the desired results, all out “regime change” or invasion or bombardment follows.

Centered on oil / gas / coal exploitation processes, informs the industry’s infrastructural planning to a large extent. Violent tactics deployed by Fossil Capitalism (orchestrated by state interests and private corporations) under the auspices of modernization or neoliberal progress is a global phenomenon. One process and zone is replaced by a new one. What remains is “corporate secrecy and state militarism” throughout the timeline. The dialectic which actually unites the “West with the Rest”. To underline the above praxis — “when indigenous and workers’ resistance persists in the face of Petro-Militarism and uneven Neo-Colonial power relations, Big Oil relies on its status as a corporation or a “citizen” with its own set of rights…. the entanglement of ethno-nationalism and fossil capitalism is catastrophic.” (society and space dot org). Indeed, in other parts of the world, the system is switching to green energy sources as “renewable energy becomes cheaper than fossil fuels”. Spot the green lie? See through the neoliberal abstraction?

The contradictions bust the myths. Because China happens to be the #1 consumer of oil (roughly 12.5 million barrels a day) and coal (approximately 4 billion tons a year) then only can such an economy (and system) become the “world's top electricity producer from renewable energy sources” (Wikipedia, 2024). Because the Saudi Prince “vowed to drill ‘every last molecule” then only will Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 “spark a massive renewable energy push” (oilprice.com). No wonder, Donald Trump revoked the landmark ruling that greenhouse gases endanger public health, denied the science, denied climate change and consequently barked“drill baby drill!”

The gradual decline of the Petro-Dollar and America’s “forever wars” are synonymous. The empire’s military industrial complex demands total submission, to Fossil Capitalism and the average American has no choice. But that is one aspect of Fossil Capitalism, as our world phenomena. “The literature on Petro-States tends to blackbox the state or prevailing regime. We argue, in contrast, that not all Petro-States are configured the same way. They thus respond to external and internal crises differently. Despite sharing similar background conditions, the petro-state of Venezuela responded to the external oil shock of 2013–2015 by turning more authoritarian and populist, whereas the petro-state of Ecuador attempted to turn more democratic and developmental and Columbia has altogether abandoned all future fossil fuel projects.” (Dr. Bernardo Jurema, RIFS Potsdam).

The above summary is way more useful and to understand specific characteristics of nations, as well as response to imperialism based on fossil energy (coal, oil, gas). Albeit, the shock waves or disruption in energy extraction, transfer and circulation is felt across the world, on multiple levels. No one particularly wants to “run out of gas”. No one actually wants to pay the “true price”. But, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Shall we measure the true cost with barrels of oil? 102 million per day. 37.5 billion in 2025. Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iraq and Iran make up roughly 50% of the global reserves. China alone consumes 24% of the annual world-share. Congo consumes 0.018% of the annual world-share. The Strait of Hormuz and Strait of Malacca together make up 55% of global Fossil Fuel shipping. Global average consumption = 0.5% of one barrel (42 gallons) per day.

Yet the poorest of every nation are to suffer the worst consequences and face acute shortage. How suffers the average Iranian or Venezuelan or American or Chinese or Indian, turns the matter into deeper subjective analysis. The suffering and destruction inflicted by global (financial and political) institutions that regulate the trade and distribution of fossil fuels and capital.

The “earth system crisis” is also driving people towards international solidarity. Akin to the global solidarity for anti-imperialism, anti-racism, anti-fascism, even the anti-fossil fuels movement gains momentum and outreach. Yet such dedication and numbers still fails to globally impact — create “a definitive break” with the logic of Fossil Capitalism. What can stop the death drive of Fossil Capitalism? Who wants to emit less? Who wants to give up on cheap energy? Who wants to burn the planet down? And in the end, who is left standing? Who can never fall victim to all the political, social and ecological contradictions?

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