Ecological Civilisation has been established as one of the key theoretical-political concepts in the People's Republic of China, articulating a series of policies, initiatives, and campaigns that seek to implement a national vision of sustainable development. This article reflects on the imagination of environmental sustainability contained in Ecological Civilisation through the promotion of the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) industry in China, where lithium-ion batteries are the key enabling technology. The central idea is that Ecological Civilisation stands as a strategy of economic growth based on technological optimism fed by a new energy. However, the promotion of a new energy for the Ecological Civilisation is underpinned by the reproduction of socio-economic and geo-economic inequalities that are rendered invisible by the codification of these morally desirable energies as green and clean.

Dr Pablo Ampuero-Ruiz is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and a Visiting Fellow of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden.

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