Trapped in a Triangle of Inequality: How sustainability discourse can perpetuate neo-colonial structures
(2025) IBUH19 20251Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- The call for climate justice becomes increasingly urgent as environmental degradation and social injustices grow even more intertwined, with their compounded impacts disproportionately affecting communities in the Global South. This thesis critically examines how the European Green Deal (EGD), as a climate policy, perpetuates neo-colonial power structures under the guise of sustainability, using the lenses of Postcolonial Critique of Development, Ecologically Unequal Exchange, and Green Extractivism. Through a two-stage qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis of the EGD, additional EU policy documents, and a multinational corporation’s sustainability report, the study reveals how both policy and corporate narratives reinforce ideological... (More)
- The call for climate justice becomes increasingly urgent as environmental degradation and social injustices grow even more intertwined, with their compounded impacts disproportionately affecting communities in the Global South. This thesis critically examines how the European Green Deal (EGD), as a climate policy, perpetuates neo-colonial power structures under the guise of sustainability, using the lenses of Postcolonial Critique of Development, Ecologically Unequal Exchange, and Green Extractivism. Through a two-stage qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis of the EGD, additional EU policy documents, and a multinational corporation’s sustainability report, the study reveals how both policy and corporate narratives reinforce ideological and hegemonic frameworks, key elements of neo-colonial structures. The Just Transition embedded in the EGD is limited to EU borders, while extractive partnerships remain asymmetrical, favouring European interests over Global South communities. Additionally, the framing of economic growth as compatible with ecological boundaries is contradicted by the underlying realities of extractivism, despite claims of sustainability. The OCP Group’s case exemplifies how corporate actors align with policy narratives, framing their operations as sustainable while perpetuating extractivist practices on occupied land. These findings underscore the persistence of neo-colonial structures within the EU’s ‘most progressive’ climate policy and highlight the need to challenge policy frameworks that normalise such inequalities. This thesis calls for a fundamental rethinking of policy frameworks that disguise inequality as progress and calls for a truly just, global approach to climate justice. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9204171
- author
- Toma Antoon, Tanya LU ; Huth Lorentzen, Nora LU and Beumer, Jarste LU
- supervisor
-
- John Murray LU
- organization
- course
- IBUH19 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Extractivism, Just Transition, Neo-colonial, European Green Deal, Global South, Global North, Western Sahara, Morocco, OCP, EU, Phosphate, Raw Materials
- language
- English
- id
- 9204171
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-23 11:21:20
- date last changed
- 2025-06-23 11:21:20
@misc{9204171,
abstract = {{The call for climate justice becomes increasingly urgent as environmental degradation and social injustices grow even more intertwined, with their compounded impacts disproportionately affecting communities in the Global South. This thesis critically examines how the European Green Deal (EGD), as a climate policy, perpetuates neo-colonial power structures under the guise of sustainability, using the lenses of Postcolonial Critique of Development, Ecologically Unequal Exchange, and Green Extractivism. Through a two-stage qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis of the EGD, additional EU policy documents, and a multinational corporation’s sustainability report, the study reveals how both policy and corporate narratives reinforce ideological and hegemonic frameworks, key elements of neo-colonial structures. The Just Transition embedded in the EGD is limited to EU borders, while extractive partnerships remain asymmetrical, favouring European interests over Global South communities. Additionally, the framing of economic growth as compatible with ecological boundaries is contradicted by the underlying realities of extractivism, despite claims of sustainability. The OCP Group’s case exemplifies how corporate actors align with policy narratives, framing their operations as sustainable while perpetuating extractivist practices on occupied land. These findings underscore the persistence of neo-colonial structures within the EU’s ‘most progressive’ climate policy and highlight the need to challenge policy frameworks that normalise such inequalities. This thesis calls for a fundamental rethinking of policy frameworks that disguise inequality as progress and calls for a truly just, global approach to climate justice.}},
author = {{Toma Antoon, Tanya and Huth Lorentzen, Nora and Beumer, Jarste}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Trapped in a Triangle of Inequality: How sustainability discourse can perpetuate neo-colonial structures}},
year = {{2025}},
}