A special issue of the NACLA Report on the Americas.
This special issue of the NACLA Report critically examines the rise of green capitalism in the Americas in the lead-up to COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November. Guest edited by Sabrina Fernandes and Breno Bringel, this collection analyzes how the logics and instruments of green capitalism are shaping policy and territory, enabling new forms of dispossession, and deepening historical inequalities. Together, the voices and examples compiled in this issue expose the traps of a corporate-led transition that claims to be clean and just, but in practice reinforces systems of exploitation and domination. The Fall 2025 issue also highlights the movements, communities, and visions from below that challenge these false solutions and point the way toward just ecosocial transitions.
The idea that capitalism can solve the climate and ecological crisis it has created is not only misleading but also dangerous.
Read the full editors’ introduction and explore more from this issue. While supplies last, order an individual copy of the issue here.
These articles are open access:
Green Capitalism in the Americas: False Solutions, Real Threats
Sabrina Fernandes and Breno Bringel – August 22, 2025
In this special issue of the NACLA Report, we critically examine the rise of green capitalism in the region in the lead-up to COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November.
Puerto Rico’s Fight for Energy Independence
Jesse Ilan Kornbluth – September 3, 2025
Amid worsening blackouts and fossil fuel contracts that deepen colonial dependency, Puerto Ricans are building energy sovereignty from the ground up—one rooftop solar panel at a time.
Greenwashing Debt in the Galápagos Islands
Sophia Boddenberg – September 5, 2025
Ecuador’s historic debt-for-nature swap promises to bridge the international funding gap for biodiversity conservation, but island residents say it erodes sovereignty and empowers foreign interests.
Has Belém Turned its Back on the River?
Mariana Guimarães & Rosaly de Seixas Brito – September 8, 2025
COP30 construction projects have reproduced long-standing social inequalities and environmental injustices, giving new momentum to struggles over water and life in the city.
Green Sacrifice Zones in Antofagasta
Gabriela Cabaña & Ramón Balcázar – September 8, 2025
Chile’s energy transition promises decarbonization, but in the north of the country, a growing extractive frontier threatens water, land, and Indigenous ways of life.
These articles are not open access and can be reached on the publisher website:
Guatemala: Between Indigenous Demands and Watered-Down Progressivism
Raúl Zibechi – 21 Aug 2025
The country’s first progressive government in decades appears powerless against the “pact of the corrupt,” while the Indigenous movement pushes back against the far right and calls for more radical transformation.
The Coloniality of Climate Discourse
Gina Cortés Valderrama & Isadora Cardoso – 21 Aug 2025
Unpacking hegemonic narratives that shape global climate negotiations from an intersectional and decolonial approach.
“We are not Lithium Valley!”
Bárbara Magalhães Teixeira & Marina Paula Oliveira – 21 Aug 2025
In Brazil’s Jequitinhonha Valley, the promise of a green transition has brought more extractive violence. Communities are mounting resistance and reclaiming the right to shape their own future.
“Mine Yuh Business, Not the Ocean”: The Fight Against Deep Seabed Mining
Colin Bogle – 21 Aug 2025
Jamaican activists are building a transnational movement to keep critical metals on the ocean floor where they belong.
Copper Mining and Green Sacrifice in Putumayo
Lital Khaikin – 21 Aug 2025
In the amazonian mountains of southwest Colombia, a massive Canadian-owned copper mine imperils waterways and soil in the name of the energy transition.
The Silent “Green” Takeover: Tree Monocultures and False Solutions in Brazil’s Cerrado
Morena Hanbury Lemos & Shanna Hanbury Lemos – 21 Aug 2025
In Mato Grosso do Sul, a wave of eucalyptus plantations backed by global investors is displacing communities and draining ecosystems—all in the name of a green future.
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