From fossil capitalism to green capitalism: is the road to exploitation the same?
The transition from fossil capitalism to green capitalism is often presented as an essential step toward a sustainable future. As concerns over climate change intensify, many hope that the shift toward green energy, sustainable practices, and eco-conscious innovation will lead to the end of a destructive capitalist cycle built on the exploitation of natural resources, inequality, and environmental degradation. Capitalism is now being recognized as a key player in climate change, but it was born as a response to the growing of unregulated consumerist society of industrialized nations, which is leading to a dramatic escalation of global pollution. However, capitalism is also seen as dynamic, adaptable, and capable of evolving with changing societal values and technological advancements, meaning that it would be able to adapt to a green shift while remaining intact as a system. But a global change from fossil to green capitalism, wouldn’t result in the same path of exploitation of resources, although different?
Fossil capitalism has been built on the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, namely coal, oil, and gas, so fossil fuels have driven industrialization for over a century. This system has eventually led to environmental destruction, land grabbing, pollution of the soil, water, and atmosphere, especially in the Global South. It has also been a system that enriches a small elite of corporations and individuals, creating an unjust system of global inequality. The benefits of this system have flowed disproportionately to the wealthy, while workers in industries like mining and oil extraction have faced hazardous working conditions, low wages, and few protections. The environmental and human costs of fossil capitalism have long been externalized, meaning those who have profited the most have paid the least.
In the shift toward green capitalism, a new “green revolution” has taken over the last decade, involving the development and implementation of renewable energy technologies, eco-friendly products, and sustainable practices. Companies all over the world now seem to race for which one has the greener commitments on sustainability, carbon neutrality, and the protection of biodiversity. Yet, just as in fossil capitalism, the drive for profit remains paramount: the core idea of green capitalism is indeed an attempt to minimize disruption of the existing economic model while pursuing environmental goals, pushing for the idea that profit and sustainability can be reconciled.
The question is: does green capitalism represent a true break from exploitation, or is it merely a continuation of the same dynamic, hidden behind more environmental justification? In this regard, environmental activists have started using the term green-washing: while the idea of green capitalism suggests a system where economic growth aligns with environmental responsibility, greenwashing distorts this vision by allowing corporations to maintain exploitative practices under the guise of eco-friendly initiatives. Indeed, tech giants and energy companies are now branding themselves as “green” or “sustainable” but often remain committed to practices that prioritize profit over people and the planet.
Meanwhile, while the green transition has the potential to reduce environmental harm and provide a safe pathway for the future, there are still clear issues with how it is being implemented. Taking into consideration renewable technology such as wind and solar energy, their production often depends on the extraction of natural resources that in a way mirrors that of fossil fuels. The mining of lithium for batteries, cobalt for electric vehicles, and rare earth metals for solar panels ends up having similar consequences to the whole critique behind fossil capitalism.
While green capitalism may be the way toward reducing environmental harm, it does not inherently offer a solution to the inequalities and exploitative structures. The transition from fossil capitalism to green capitalism can only be considered a genuine move toward sustainability, but after all, the capitalist model remains fundamentally exploitative. In both directions, the structure of power, meaning economic interests, has remained unchanged: small elites continue to gain revenue at the expenses of the environment, and of local citizens. If the road to exploitation is the same, no matter how we paint it, we will only be exchanging one form of devastation for another.
By The World Forum on Peace and Security
