Green Colonialism Critiqued Ahead of COP30: Calls for Justice Over Corporate Interests
Ahead of COP30 in Brazil, Breno Bringel warns that climate solutions risk perpetuating green colonialism, calling for justice-focused alternatives over corporate interests.
- • Breno Bringel critiques climate solutions as perpetuating colonial inequalities, especially affecting the Global South.
- • COPs increasingly serve corporate interests, sidelining genuine climate and social justice efforts.
- • Southern governments may act as facilitators of green colonialism, not protectors of their communities.
- • Calls for grassroots-driven, justice-oriented energy transitions to counter green colonialism.
Key details
As Brazil prepares to host COP30 in Belém, political scientist Breno Bringel raises critical concerns about the persistence of green colonialism in international climate policy. Bringel, co-author of the book 'Colonialismo verde,' warns that many climate solutions presented as sustainable are instead perpetuating colonial power dynamics and economic inequalities, disproportionately impacting the Global South. He highlights that COPs have increasingly become platforms serving corporate interests rather than genuine climate action, with Southern governments sometimes acting as facilitators of such green colonialism rather than defenders of their people. Bringel underscores the need to critically examine the COP's agenda, pushing for grassroots involvement and alternative energy transitions that prioritize social and environmental justice over mere financial gains. This critique emerges amid a global debate on how to reconcile sustainability with equitable development. While initiatives like Brazil's Feira do Empreendedor showcase the union of sustainability and profitability for local businesses, exemplified by Fortaleza's Cantinho do Frango engaging in numerous UN Sustainable Development Goals, Bringel's analysis points to structural challenges that must be addressed at the policy level to avoid perpetuating imperialist practices. He calls for recognition of historical inequalities and the adoption of new paradigms that truly empower communities in the Global South.
This article was synthesized and translated from native language sources to provide English-speaking readers with local perspectives.