Nations and NGOs are promoting the idea of a transition from a petroleum-based civilization to one fueled by renewable energy. But there are many questions about how to proceed. The solution usually proposed is to develop “clean energy” as the underlying basis of a transition. Analysts tend to be concerned with climate change and land use change, with a focus on technical developments. Socio-ecological issues receive scant attention, especially if they relate to oil cities. This article starts from the perspective that progress in saving the planet from destruction can only be achieved by taking seriously past and present injustices and taking measures to rectify them. I use the situation in Port Harcourt, Nigeria to illustrate this proposition. I focus on three interrelated concepts: rent theft, social costs, and just transition. The central problem is rent theft because it is at the root of the “crime of poverty” and the social costs of plundering the land for energy sources. Until they address problems arising from historical injustice, campaigns for a just transition that promote clean energy in a bioeconomy will merely reproduce the central problem. Thus, reparations and land equity must be an integral part of any solution.

中文翻译：

---

. 非洲石油城市：超越转型

国家和非政府组织正在推动从以石油为基础的文明向以可再生能源为燃料的文明过渡的想法。但是关于如何进行还有很多问题。通常提出的解决方案是开发“清洁能源”作为转型的基础。分析师倾向于关注气候变化和土地利用变化，重点关注技术发展。社会生态问题很少受到关注，尤其是与石油城市有关的问题。本文的出发点是，只有认真对待过去和现在的不公正现象并采取措施加以纠正，才能在拯救地球免遭破坏方面取得进展。我用尼日利亚哈科特港的情况来说明这个命题。我关注三个相互关联的概念：租金盗窃、社会成本和公正过渡。核心问题是租金盗窃，因为它是“贫困罪”和掠夺土地获取能源的社会成本的根源。直到他们解决历史不公正引起的问题，在生物经济中促进清洁能源的公正转型运动只会重现核心问题。因此，赔偿和土地公平必须是任何解决方案的一个组成部分。