Natasa Szabó

Batteries are often presented as central tools in the epochal fight for global decarbonization, yet their production causes profound socioecological disruptions. While the global battery supply chain connects the world over and is entangled with shifting geopolitical fault lines, its assemblage is highly localized, contingent upon unique socio-ecological relations in specific nodes. My research examines the shifting constellations of labor and ecology in Debrecen, Hungary, which is becoming one such node in evolving global battery geographies. The city has recently attracted significant Chinese investments in battery manufacturing, among them the largest planned battery plant in Europe by the industry-leader CATL. How does the integration of Debrecen into the global battery supply chain reshape local labor forces, ecosystems, and social relations? How can we think about Global China through this localized transformation? Building on the methodology of global ethnography, I address these questions through an extended ethnographic study of the CATL gigafactory in Debrecen. By studying the combined process of battery-based decarbonization and geopolitical restructuring my research addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: how can communities and workers find ways to challenge the dominance of green capitalist modernization and work towards alternative social and ecological futures?