Without transition. A new history of energy

This eighth session of the seminar organised by GRETS, "Aboard the giants of the seas. An onboard ethnography of global logistics", will be attended by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz - CNRS, EHESS, and will be introduced by Jérémy Bouillet - EDF R&D - GRETS.

At a time when the issue of the ‘energy transition’ is at the heart of environmental and political debates, and when climate issues and the challenges of decarbonisation are more pressing than ever, Jean-Baptiste Fressoz draws on a wealth of historical documentation to challenge preconceived ideas about the idea of transition, and proposes a new reading of the history of energy.

This GRETS seminar session looks in detail at the notion of energy transition, often presented as a series of distinct phases in which one energy source completely replaces another. The author shows that, historically, the different energy sources have accumulated and been largely interconnected, rather than succeeding one another. For example, the use of coal did not eliminate the use of wood, but led to an increase in the consumption of wood for mining infrastructure.

The book highlights the complex relationships between different energy sources, which are as much symbiotic as they are competitive. It highlights the immense challenges posed by the decarbonisation of modern economies, showing that fossil fuels play an increasing role, particularly in the production of many goods. He also criticises the idea that technological innovations alone can solve energy problems, showing that innovations have never eliminated a flow of material consumption.

• Jean-Baptiste Fressoz is a historian of science, technology and the environment. He is a research fellow at the CNRS, attached to the Groupe de recherche sur l'histoire de l'environnement (CRH-GRHEN) at EHESS. His research focuses on the history of the environment, the Anthropocene and climatic knowledge, particularly from the angle of the relationship between societies and environments and the relationship with materiality. His work focuses on inequalities, the weight of history and the inertia of structures, the promise of innovation and the real dynamics of technological change, the material basis of modernity, and so on.

• Fressoz, JB, Jarrige, François, Le Roux, Thomas, Marache, Corinne et Vincent, Julin, La nature en révolution. Une histoire environnementale de la France (vol. 1), Paris, La Découverte, mars 2025, 320 p.
• Fressoz, JB, Sans transition. Une nouvelle histoire de l'énergie, Paris, Seuil, coll. Écocène, 12. janv. 2024, 416 p.
• Fressoz, JB, Bonneuil, Christophe et Viallet, Jean-Robert, Nous avons mangé la Terre, Paris, Seuil, 2022, 192 p.
• Fressoz JB, Locher F., Les révoltes du ciel. Une  histoire du changement climatique, XVe-XXe siècles, Paris, Le Seuil, 2020.
• Bonneuil C, Fressoz, J.B., The Shock of the Anthropocene. The Earth, History and Us, Londres, Verso, 2016 (traduction japonaise 2017 et Italienne 2018 ; version française 2013)
• Fressoz, J.B., Graber F., Locher F., Quenet G., Introduction à l’histoire environnementale, Paris, La Découverte, 2014 (traduction anglaise 2016)