The Green Growth Paradigm: Climate Solution or Environmental Disaster?

In the face of increasing environmental challenges, green growth is often established as a climate solution, adopted into national and international action plans such as the Paris Agreement. To establish green growth as a veritable climate solution, the green energy transition (GET) is often promoted as an opportunity for a healthy green economy – catering to increased economic and resource demands in a ‘sustainable’ manner. This paper answers the question: what are the limitations of the green growth paradigm as a solution to the climate crisis? This paper analyses and critiques the green growth paradigm, applying the concept of ‘green colonialism’ to question the efficacy of the current economic model and the dominance of the Global North in the green transition. The paper then uses the GET as an example of how more harm than good can come from the green growth paradigm, illustrated by exploitative mining and geopolitical struggles which exacerbate ‘green colonialism’. The investigation concludes that the green growth paradigm does not sufficiently challenge current economic systems which exacerbate environmental issues, and instead must focus on climate justice- oriented policies in order to act as a solution to the climate crisis.