Winter Session 2026
Abolishing the fossil regime: undoing extractivist mentalities, spaces and institutions
Location: Oslo, Norway
Dates: March 5th-7th, 2026
How can we abolish the global fossil regime? How do we free ourselves from undemocratic dependencies on extractive industries and authoritarian elites: in our cities, in our homes, in our streets, in our workplaces, in our universities and schools, and even in our own minds? And how do we start delinking our local societies from global energy systems reliant on exploitation, fascism, white supremacy and genocide? In this winter study session, we are calling for abstracts, papers, perspectives, statements of interest, essays, reflections, literary and artistic contributions on the topic of abolishing fossil capitalism and fossil colonialism. We welcome contributions from academics, artists, writers, NGOs, social movements, workers, civil servants, and anybody interested in participating.
In 2024, around four-fifths of global primary energy consists of coal, oil, and gas. Yet, as Andreas Malm highlights, the global fossil regime was never democratically decided, but was instead foisted on humanity by a tiny elite. Abolishing the fossil regime requires a fundamental rethinking of our energy systems, incl. heating, food systems, logistics, mobility, economy, and work. But it also requires a fundamental rethinking of what it means to live with others, of the spaces and temporalities through which we conduct our lives, of who gets to decide what for whom, and of our modes of thinking and experiencing the world.
In this session, taking place in Oslo – the oil capital of Europe – we will work with activists, scholars, scientists, philosophers, artists and people from all walks of life and disciplines to study fossil fuel exnovation, considering fossil fuels not only as structural pillars of our economies, but also as pillars of our ways of relating to one another, of our politics, our ethics and our modes of living, thinking and experiencing the world.
Suggested themes
Some suggested themes are below, but they are not exclusive, and we welcome other thematic contributions that do not fit any of the below:
- Delinking from the global fossil economy: How do fossil fuels enable imperial and colonial logics? How can these be disabled? What are the material and energetic aspects of the fossil fuel industry across the world, incl. transport, refineries, links to other industries? What are the weak points of the industry? What are the points of opening for undermining or disrupting fossil capital around the world?
- Post-fossil work and regeneration: How are professions, occupations and jobs connected to fossil economies? How can they be disconnected? How can labor power be harnessed for resisting and undoing fossil work? How can one participate in post-fossil transformation as a worker? How can work be rethought to match post-fossil mentalities? What role does unpaid (care and reproductive) labour have in post-fossil mentalities? How can both qualitative and quantitative expertise be harnessed for fossil energy de-generation and the undoing of fossil infrastructure? What alternatives exist for post-fossil work? How are they being enacted or strategically advanced? How to enable regeneration?
- On-the-ground strategies and tactics for ending the fossil regime: How can oil rigs be dismantled – physically, logistically, structurally and sociologically? How can fossil fuel companies be disrupted, abolished, repurposed and/or composted? How are various movements and institutions working to resist and eventually terminate the fossil economy? What strategies and tactics are they using? How can they be buttressed, expanded or developed? How are reactionary movements, networks and institutions working to resist change and support fossil fuel expansion? What strategies and tactics are they using? How can they best be disrupted, resisted or nullified?
- Exnovation of fossil spaces: How do fossil fuels determine the spaces through which we live, eat, love, sleep, travel, rest and work? How have urban, peri-urban and rural spaces been codified and reshaped in the global fossil regime? What spatial imaginaries have been repressed or suppressed to make way for fossil fuels? How could we live differently? How can we concretely exnovate / undo / decommission / terminate fossil spaces – like parking lots, oil refineries, mines, airports and highways? How can we turn non-places of haste and transit into places that are welcoming of those who occupy them? [Note: This will be a continuation of an ongoing circle sub-project called “Decomissioned Imaginaries” – both new and old circle members are welcome to contribute!]
- Exnovation of fossil mentalities: What are the narratives and mentalities that encourage the continued persistence of fossil fuels in our lives? How does the fossil fuel industry influence our cultures? How do they fuel anti-democratic and authoritarian narratives, logics and structures? How can these mentalities and narratives best be challenged, weakened, ridiculed, and eventually terminated? How do fossil fuels structure our notions of time, space, work, leisure, freedom, the world and the self? How do they influence or constrain concepts of possibility and impossibility? How is the fossil subject constituted in modern society? Can theories and methodologies from theology, ontology and epistemology be harnessed to undo the fossil regime? What is the role of (science) fiction in building fossil and post-fossil worlds?
Pricing
We work with 2 prices. A ticket needs to be purchased via NSU webshop .
- 30 euros, for circle participants without an income or institutional funding
- 150 euros, for circle participants with an income and/or institutional funding
The money will cover …
- NSU membership for 2026 (30 euros). This NSU membership fee is used for paying the NSU website and other overhead costs.
- Circle activities and lunch each day
- Travel and accommodation for those without an income or institutional funding
ECTS credits
ECTS credits for PhD students. Through NSU, participants in the session will be granted a letter recommending ECTS credits for participation (1 ECTS for attendance of the session OR 2 ECTS for attendance and presentation of a topic of the student’s choice, that is relevant to the circle).
Deadlines
Please apply in the link below by December 1st. Once notified you’re accepted to the circle, you can purchase the circle tickets via the NSU webshop.
TO APPLY, CLICK ON THIS LINK.
About Study Circle 9 – Degrowth and Exnovation
How to safely dismantle a coal mine or an oil rig, and re-use their parts for something better? What could existing fossil spaces be replaced with, in a way that benefits people and planet? In this NSU Study Circle, we aim to study ways to facilitate, support and carry out exnovation, meaning the democratic down-scaling and termination of harmful technologies, institutions and practices that contribute to climate, ecological and societal breakdown. We focus on exnovation as a key concept within the broader degrowth paradigm. Degrowth involves the equitable and just down-scaling of production and consumption, undertaken through democratic processes, in order to bring our societies back into balance with the living world, while improving well-being. Exnovation plays an important role in this downscaling: we urgently need creative and democratically engaging ways to undo all the structures that fossil capital has created to make our lives dependent on its unlimited growth.
While much research in the Nordic countries focuses on sustainable energy innovation, little focus has been put on the social, ecological and technical difficulties associated with exnovation: the phase out, dismantling or discontinuation of practices, technologies, ideas and organizations that contribute to climate collapse. Academia has put vast amounts of research capital into trying to find ways to patch over the pollution caused by fossil fuels – e.g. research centers for carbon capture and storage and negative emissions technologies; institutes for “clean” hydrogen or “sustainable” offshore drilling – thus validating the narrative that the fossil fuel industry is part of the solution, not the source of the problem. Yet, very little research efforts in the Nordic countries are being directed at finding ways to safely un-do fossil fuel or other types of unsustainable infrastructure, and on what to do with the results of this un-doing, with the resulting spaces and materials that are left behind.
We envision a research+action program in exnovation, that can foster continued knowledge production and sharing in the service of exnovative active citizenship. How can we best help movements and organizations working towards exnovation and degrowth? How can we work together in co-building a just post-growth future for all?
Past sessions
2025:
- Winter Session “Exnovation and Degrowth: how do we terminate the fossil economy?”
24th – 26th April, 2025. Copenhagen, Denmark
- Summer Session: “Building community in the midst of collapse: organizing towards degrowth futures”
21st – 28th July, 2025. Jyväskylä, Finland