The coloniality of green transformation: Decarbonisation and extractivism in South America
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The ‘green transformation’, with its focus on renewable energies and decarbonisation, has been criticised for intensifying resource exploitation in the Global South. In this article, we argue that a Latin American decolonial perspective is necessary to understand the historical continuities that allow these ecological modernisation projects to exacerbate (neo)colonial socioecological inequalities. It is also essential to understand why ecological modernisation is inherently linked to the extractivist, fossilist economy rather than putting an end to it. Our concept of the ‘coloniality of green transformation’ focuses, on the one hand, on the colonial continuities of ecological destruction linked to the unequal global division of labour and, on the other hand, new forms of commodification of nature in the context of ‘green transformation’. We illustrate this perspective using two case studies: mining in Chile and carbon offsetting in the Brazilian Amazon Basin.
Source: The Sociological Review
Authors: Maria Backhouse, Jakob Graf, Anna Landherr
Institution: University of Augsburg
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,900
OpenAlex ID: W4416227135