Women's Environment and Development Organization 48d ago

This edition of Critical Conversations features an interview with Thea Riofrancos, a political scientist and researcher whose work examines resource extraction, the global lithium sector, and the politics of the energy transition. Critical Conversations is a series dedicated to exploring feminist, decolonial, and grassroots perspectives on just transition — perspectives that are frequently absent from mainstream climate and energy debates. Through these dialogues, we aim to connect lived experience and critical analysis to policy conversations, fostering space for reflection and collective sense-making. Thea brings particular expertise on the Atacama Desert in Chile, situating her analysis within both regional and global contexts of extraction, justice, and transformation. Her new book, “Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism,” investigates the environmental and social costs of the so-called green transition, and asks what genuine justice requires as the world shifts to new energy systems. We spoke to Thea just after returning from COP30 in Brazil, where the geopolitics of the energy transition and critical minerals were more prominent in the negotiations than we’ve ever seen before. Although this did not yield concrete outcomes or decisions on minerals, it is indicative of the increasing attention countries are paying to the question of minerals in the context of the energy transition. Our conversation with Thea explores the specifics of lithium, a mineral often referenced in critical minerals conversations — what it’s used for and what that use means — as well as her take on how the politics around energy and extraction have changed in recent years.