As far-right parties gain ground across Europe, their increasingly ferocious attacks on environmental policies are providing mainstream parties with a convenient excuse to abandon green protections, argues Guardian environment correspondent Ajit Niranjan. In a piece reflecting on two years covering the climate crisis, Niranjan warns that the anti-green shift is empowering established parties to scrap measures they never fully supported.
Niranjan describes encountering a neo-Nazi-linked protester in Germany who railed against the green agenda of the previous government. He says the far right has unexpectedly made green-bashing its number two priority, a strategy tolerated if not rewarded by voters. Meanwhile, big oil is using the political shift to double down on fossil fuels, scrapping renewable investments and filing spurious lawsuits against activists.
The journalist highlights the role of corporate enablers, including public affairs firms lobbying to water down climate policy and banks financing “carbon bomb” projects. These forces are gaining influence in governments and boardrooms globally, contributing to a sense of dismay among climate-concerned readers and scientists alike.
However, Niranjan points to examples that challenge prevailing apathy, from a German hospital successfully shifting to a mostly vegetarian diet thanks to improved fake meats, to class-action lawsuits and country-sweeping protests. He argues that collective actions in how people shop, vote, live, work, and save can cut pollution and push governments to act with urgency.
