The “Beyond Extractivism” workstream explores how to move beyond extractivism in the context of the energy transition. It will discuss what policy choices, institutional reforms, and technological pathways could accelerate decarbonization while minimizing the social, environmental, and geopolitical harms linked to resource extraction. It will cover Indigenous and local rights, sacrifice zones, supply chain transparency, demand reduction, and governance reform.
Philippe Le Billon is a Professor at the University of British Columbia with the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. He holds a PhD in Geography (Oxford). A political ecologist, he works on linkages between environment, development and security with a focus on resource-related conflicts. He currently works on the ‘green transition’, environmental defenders, and ocean sustainability. His publications include Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources (Oxford UP, 2013), Oil (Polity Press, 2017 with Gavin Bridge), Environmental Defenders: Struggles for Life and Territory (Routledge, 2021 with Mary Menton), and most recently The Great Green Grab, Climate Extractivism and Resource Imperialism (Hurst, 2026), see also Google Scholar profile.
Gabriela Cabaña is a sociologist and anthropologist with a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her expertise is on social-ecological conflicts related to energy infrastructure, which she approaches from a critical and decolonial perspective. She has done research on green hydrogen in Chile and its relation to the emergence of green sacrifice zones. She is currently project manager in advocacy and environmental democracy issues at Ciudadanía Inteligente, a Latin American NGO working for the strengthening of democracy.
She is also a member of the Chilean chapter of the Pacto Ecosocial e Intercultural del Sur, a collective initiative by organisations and individuals from Latin America that aims to transform the current model of civilisation in the face of the climate crisis.