The inertia of transition: the reproduction capitalist landscapes in Europe, from copper mines to wind turbines

– This article analyzes the role of social, economic, and environmental inertia in the industrial renewal resulting from the contemporary “energy transition". To do so, it draws on a comparison of two case studies: the reopening of a copper mine in Andalusia and the massive installation of wind turbines in northern France. A localized analysis of industrial trajectories in these two regions shows, on the one hand, how zones of sacrifice propitious to industrial renewal are constructed over the long term, in which the production of new environmental degradations takes its place among the past damage. On the second hand, the article describes how the extraction of new mining or renewable resources is spatialized differently in these territories dedicated to industry. Finally, it shows the centrality of work in the acceptance or rejection of these new industrial activities of “transition”.