GRES has two core research blocks. First, it will develop a novel Map of Green Sacrifice to specify the ecological and socio-economic impacts and characteristics of territories and populations that bear the costs of providing the infrastructure for just transition at a national level (Spain). Second, it will conduct in-depth case studies of the making of green sacrifice in two settings in Spain in order to tease out and analyse governance mechanisms that advance it, and the ways in which it is experienced and contested.

Mapping of green sacrifice

GRES will generate a map of low-carbon transition infrastructure in Spain, whose data will then be analysed to specify the profile of territories affected by that infrastructure by specifying the types of ecological, public health, and economic impacts borne by different community profiles. The map is not meant as an ‘objective’ tool to assess the desirability of green infrastructure. The objective is to visualise types of sacrifice and who bears them in terms of types of populations and natural assets. This is important for planning purposes, because it can help contribute as one criterion to decision-making by avoiding the overburdening of certain ecosystems and populations bearing a high volume of infrastructure.

Case studies

GRES will analyse the political dimensions of green sacrifice by means of qualitative, in-depth case study research. This research block will study policy mechanisms (e.g. land expropriation), policy processes and policy-maker logics mobilised at different scales of decision-making in the course of putting into operation just transition infrastructure; as well as the role of opposition to that infrastructure in order to establish its contribution in shaping green sacrifice.