‘At the Mercy of the Giants’: The Making of a Green Sacrifice Zone in Kalumbila District, Zambia

ABSTRACT As the global green transition accelerates, demand for critical raw materials is surging. Within the literature, the term ‘green sacrifice zone’ has been adopted to describe areas that have experienced significant socio‐environmental deterioration through the extraction of these materials. We take this concept as a starting point, arguing that while it holds considerable analytical and political promise, it remains underdeveloped, lacking both conceptual clarity and a robust analytical underpinning. To address this, we develop a framework to identify and analyse potential green sacrifice zones. We then apply it to a case study of Kalumbila District, Zambia—part of a ‘new Copperbelt’ experiencing intensified extraction. Utilising data collected during fieldwork in the area, we evaluate whether a green sacrifice zone is currently emerging in the district and examine what this in turn can reveal about developmental approaches undertaken within the ‘green’ paradigm as they play out in the Zambian context.