Exiting the Fossil World

2024

Having built a world in the 20th century based on the exploitation and consumption of fossil fuels, multinational energy companies now face the necessity of moving away from them. How are they making the energy transition? This book presents the findings of an ethnographic study conducted through immersion within an oil and gas company undergoing this transition.

By delving into the day-to-day operations of the transformation initiatives carried out by ENGIE between 2016 and 2020, Exiting the Fossil World explores how a multinational corporation is being driven to action by the climate crisis. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the Philippines, China, and Singapore, this investigation sheds light on the practices through which a company is led to reshape its presence and roots across the globe. Whether on a remote island or in a sprawling megacity, we see the frictions and resistances emerging that run through the process of territorialization, rendering it both precarious and uncertain. The image of globalization unfolding in a monolithic and irresistible manner gives way here to a proliferation of jarring movements, where contacts established across the globe do not necessarily translate into stable global connections. This description highlights the fact that, to break free from the fossil fuel world, energy multinationals are embarking on a vast operation to explore and forge new footholds, thereby marking a new form of capitalism’s territorial expansion. By synthesizing insights from actor-network theory, connected history, ethnography, and semiotics, this book offers a fresh perspective on the relationships between global warming, energy companies, and globalization.