Illicit labour and the photovoltaic industry (ERC)
Funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the project Illicit Labourinvolves an international consortium composed of National Research Counciland Queen Mary University of London. It also involves collaborations with Sapienza University of Rome. The project, coordinated by Dr Carlo Inverardi-Ferri, pioneers a study of the linkages between climate change mitigation and illicit economies and the resulting implications for ecological governance. It investigates the production networks of the photovoltaic industry to reveal the dark aspects of the green energy sectorin different geographical sites (China, Ghana and India). In doing so, it advances new theoretical perspectives on risk, vulnerability and mitigation, considering the interaction between the green energy sector and the illicit economy.
The research focuses on several core questions:
- How do we explain the economic, political, and cultural processes that link illicit labour and ecological governance?
- Which labour regimes in mining and manufacturing processes sustain solar panel production?
- How do informal energy markets work?
- What are the social and environmental challenges raised by end-of-life photovoltaic modules?
- And, finally, how can this analysis reveal new ways to provide clean and affordable energy for all?
Climate change mitigation and illicit labour are two significant challenges of modern times, whose interconnection poses growing concerns for society, such as energy insecurity, toxic waste production, and labour exploitation. Yet this relationship has surprisingly received limited systemic attention in labour studies. Through an analysis of the global photovoltaic industry, a major climate change mitigation sector, Illicit Labour casts light on those neglected actors, practices, and processes that operate in the shadow of sustainable development.