GREEN IMPERIALISM

Using the fight against climate change as a reason for pursuing imperialist activities

Leaders from the developing world have a different take on global climate change policies. They state that they are being forced to use green energy, which will make it even harder for billions to escape poverty. The term being used for this is GREEN IMPERIALISM, otherwise known as Green Colonialism.

(Wealthy) countries now use the fight against climate change as a reason for pursuing imperialist activities. This has been designated as green colonialism. 

Nonetheless, the term ‘green colonialism’, just as ‘colonialism’, has been used to put a name on various phenomena. Daniel Butt defines colonialism as the combination of domination, cultural imposition and exploitation of one people by another (2013). Rearranging this definition, we restrict green colonialism to the domination, the cultural imposition and the exploitation of peoples by other peoples using environmental excuses…

Green colonialism, whether exercised consciously or unconsciously, is causing serious harm to indigenous populations as well as populations from the least developed countries. This issue is almost absent from the media, which can be explained by the difficulty the impacted populations have to raise awareness about their situation. It is therefore the most important fight to lead: make sure that their voices are heard so that policymakers listen to them. 

Financial institutions, the World Bank, UN/WEF and wealthy nations are not funding and putting political pressure to stop hydrocarbon projects in developing nations. Despite the fact hydrocarbon, and natural gas in particular, is often more economical, and can provide more energy services to more people, than renewables alone.

In 2021, during the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow, the U.S. joined a group of some 20 countries that agreed to stop funding oil and gas projects in developing countries. As explained by one news outlet, the move “could take billions of dollars away from future fossil fuel production and redistribute it to low-carbon energy projects such as wind and solar. The agreement covers ‘unabated’ projects, which generally refers to fossil fuel facilities that don't capture carbon dioxide emissions... The announcement goes beyond a separate agreement by the world’s largest economies last weekend to end public financing for international coal power development.” Also in 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department issued guidance for multilateral development banks “aimed at squeezing off fossil fuel financing except in certain circumstances.”

Electricity is the key to getting out of poverty. Natural gas is the cleanest of all the fossil fuels. It is widely distributed, abundant and much cleaner than other petroleum based products. The article titled Natural Gas Should Be Part of the Discussion at Summit for a New Global Financing Pact By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber explains:

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA / ACCESSWIRE / June 22, 2023 / Somewhere at the intersection of money and climate are more than 600 million Africans who don't have access to electricity, 890 million Africans without methods for clean cooking, dozens of African nations that depend on hydrocarbons to fund just about every service they provide, and African industrial development that can't move forward unless it's powered by fossil fuels.

Yet this week, the politicians, banking experts, civil society group leaders, and others who are gathering at that intersection - at a two-day event organized by French President Emmanuel Macron called The Summit for a New Global Financing Pact - are pushing an agenda that appears to be putting financing for African natural gas projects, the presumptive solution to many of the continent's poverty woes, on the back burner, no pun intended.

Uganda's President Museveni wrote in a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Solar and Wind Force Poverty on Africa," that “Africans have a right to use reliable, cheap energy, and doing so doesn’t prevent the development of the continent’s renewables. Forcing Africa down one route will hinder our fight against poverty.”

Other leaders have expressed their outrage at the situation:

Magatte Wade of Senegal, the Director of the African Center for Prosperity, asks Europeans, "What's the difference between 'you Germans' who, when you need fossil fuels and you realize you still need it, you're going for it. Yet you're telling we the Africans, we can't do it. Is it because I'm black? Is it because we're idiots? Is it because we're inferior? We want to become prosperous nations. We want to become prosperous people, but for that to happen, access to reliable and affordable energy is central, is key."
 
Jayaraj says, "The reality in developing countries is that the situation here is far worse than what is being portrayed in the media and the West. The countries here are already struggling to keep up with the energy demand, and for them to experiment with green technologies would be not so wise, especially when people are still living in the dark and hospitals are still struggling to get an electricity connection and we live in poverty."

If wealthy nations truly want to help nations with high poverty rates, they would get out of their way. They would help them develop their liquid petroleum resources and technologies. This means installing clean energy plants.

Eventually, the transition to nuclear has to be considered. Newly designed nuclear plants will be fueling the energy of the future.

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