The notion of a Green New Deal based jobs guarantee further entrenches the notions of neo-colonial capitalism – it doesn’t address the root of the exploitative nature of the West and doesn’t create a sustainable solution and remains tied to the colonial policies that caused the crisis in the first place.

Knox 21 [Amy Knox, frequent contributor to “Human Rights Pulse,” author of various articles about different political/social issues, 5-16-2021, "Capitalism And The Green Agenda: A Green New Deal Or Green Neo-Colonialism? — Human Rights Pulse," Human Rights Pulse, https://www.humanrightspulse.com/mastercontentblog/capitalism-and-the-green-agenda-a-green-new-deal-or-green-neo-colonialism] laura

ANOTHER EPISODE OF GREEN NEO-COLONIALISM? When compared to Western notions of conscious consumerism, corporate sustainability targets, carbon taxes, and even climate change denialism, the GND undoubtedly presents a progressive turning point in a political conversation that has been dominated by the belief that climate change can be solved by placing limits on an otherwise rational economic system. A GND, however, will not meet any definition of climate justice if it does not place at its centre a postcolonial and Indigenous worldview. Postcolonial critics argue that while versions of the GND differ in detail, they share one important feature: a tendency to ignore both the global nature of the climate crisis and the colonial history from which it has fundamentally emerged. While there are obvious scientific flaws in limiting the solution to climate change to one country in a global capitalist world, the more problematic notion underpinning this policy is that it ultimately prioritises the survival and security of those living within the Western borders of its origin. It bears repeating that the United States and the 28 countries of the European Union are historically the biggest contributors to the climate crisis through colonial and imperial expansion, together contributing 47% of historical carbon emissions. Put differently, the GND makes few efforts to address the colonial roots of the climate crisis by centring the emancipation of once-colonised peoples, despite the fact that the impact of the climate crisis and ecological destruction is experienced most acutely by nations in the Global South, compounding the existing Western dominance produced by the neo-colonial global capitalist order. Furthermore, the GND and its proponents self-appoint the US and European state leaders as spearheading the international anti-capitalist fight against climate change, despite most anti-imperial and post-independence struggles in the Global South existing as struggles against capitalism and the ecological injustices it produces. Thus, through such whitewashing of historical anti-colonial struggles, and through omitting any inclusion of Indigenous voices in its formulation, the GND reinforces the dominance of white and Western-centric thought over the Indigenous worldview. Finally, the solutions proposed by the GND itself are critiqued on account of relying upon the resources and labour of countries in the Global South to meet the heavy burdens of material and energy requirements necessary for such a transition. The GND thus becomes the next chapter in a long and entrenched history of racialised capitalism, resource extraction, and the dispossession and displacement of native communities, wherein the Global South continues to shoulder the cost of Western “progress” and the cost of emancipating the white working class in these nations. THE CASE FOR A GLOBAL AND DECOLONIAL GREEN NEW DEAL To the extent that the GND does not fundamentally challenge the neo-colonial role of the West in the global political order, it is unlikely to produce the transformational and systemic change necessary to reverse the climate crisis. To truly address the climate crisis and the inherent contradiction between capitalism and the green agenda, Western environmentalists must advocate for a global version of the GND—one that disrupts the global capitalist order of Western domination and centres itself on the emancipation of the most marginalised from colonial legacies and the neo-colonialism of the present. The green agenda cannot be bound within the borders of the Global North, nor can it prioritise social and economic justice for Westerners over the most at-risk Indigenous communities in the rest of the world. However, this requires Westerners to enter the climate space not as self-appointed leaders, but as “figures of solidarity”. Privileging the worldview and voices of Indigenous communities is essential in decolonising the green agenda and countering the global capitalist logic of accumulation and commodification. The Indigenous communities who maintain their existence without exploiting their land or resources should thus be the “standard conception” of a green agenda that claims to have the transformative potential to reverse the climate crisis.