Renewable transition building on resettlement society: The case of Inner Mongolia, China

The climate crisis demands concerted mitigation efforts. In the coal and critical minerals hub of Inner Mongolia, China, green energy projects are rapidly taking over a landscape degraded by intensive resource extraction. In this paper, we propose the analytical concept of a resettlement society. We argue that renewables transition in Inner Mongolia is built on a resettlement society long in the making. Our qualitative research shows resettlement society to be founded on routine, even repeated unsettlements and resettlements of populations to make way for agrarian, industrial, extractives, and most recently, green development. In frontier regions, resettlement society reinforces the power of the controlling state over subordinated populations. The state, allying with companies that benefit from vacated land, pens displaced populations into resettlement complexes, embroils them in complex and technical regimes of compensation, and engenders increased dependence in a context of shrinking livelihood opportunities. Despite this highly unequal and dependent relationship, our research also notes ordinary people's agency, visible in resistance to displacement, creative means of seeking increased compensation, and lack of enthusiasm for the state's post-resettlement community building or reskilling schemes. Our research, conducted in the emerging renewables centers of Ordos and Baotou shows the green economy of PV power generation and PV silicon manufacturing, benefiting from and reproducing Inner Mongolia's resettlement society. • In-depth study of China's coal heartland turning towards green energy • Spotlight on PV power generation and PV silicon manufacture in Inner Mongolia • Unique conceptualization of resettlement society enabling renewables transition • Based on primary qualitative data from renewables hubs in Ordos and Baotou