Beyond the Contradictions of Capitalist Green Finance: Alternative Paths to Sustainability

  • 18 août 2026
    Call for papers published

Description

This special issue seeks to move beyond the technocratic and market-based approaches to sustainability that characterize much of the green finance discourse. While green finance has become increasingly mainstream, it often reproduces the fundamental contradictions of capitalism, concentrating wealth, maintaining unequal power structures, and failing to address the root causes of environmental degradation.

We invite contributions that critically examine the limitations and failures of green finance and green capitalism, while exploring genuinely alternative approaches to funding and organizing sustainable economies. Papers should engage with debates about how to achieve environmental sustainability in ways that prioritize justice, equity, and democratic control over resources.

Contributions may explore the structural contradictions within green finance capitalism, including how market mechanisms and financialization perpetuate inequality and environmental harm. They may also propose and analyze alternative models that challenge the fundamental assumptions of capitalist green finance.

Potential topics

  • Critiques of green finance and green capitalism
  • Alternative financing models for sustainability
  • Just transition and equity in green finance
  • Community-based and cooperative finance approaches
  • Indigenous and traditional sustainable practices
  • Degrowth and post-growth economic models
  • Financialization of nature and environmental commodification
  • State regulation and intervention in green finance
  • Corporate accountability and greenwashing
  • Renewable energy financing and ownership models
  • Sustainable agriculture and food systems financing
  • Climate justice and reparations
  • Labor rights in green transitions
  • Local currency and alternative banking systems
  • Blockchain and digital currencies for sustainability