Synthetic capital: Fossil entanglements and the promise of overcoming scarcity

Abstract

The future of fossil capital is dictated not only by electrification but also by its relationship to what we refer to as ‘synthetic capital’. Synthetic capital captures the use of hydrocarbons as the material basis for the production and circulation of synthetics in all their varieties, suggestive of a related but distinct form of capital. Through a reading of the material and cultural roles that synthetics have played and continue to play in contemporary capitalism, underpinning mass production and consumption, we demonstrate how synthetic capital emerged as a means of overcoming the limitations to accumulation imposed by constraints on natural resource extraction. While synthetic capital aligns with fossil capital, the future of this historical alignment remains contested. The notion of synthetic capital thus brings to the surface increasingly important relations and contradictions in energy transitions, affording theoretical insights into the entrenched yet contested nature of fossil hydrocarbons within late capitalism.