Eco-fascism: The greenwashing of the far right | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
July 10, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2025
Eco-fascism: The greenwashing of the far right

Panorama

Deutsche Welle
21 May, 2022, 02:15 pm
Last modified: 21 May, 2022, 02:23 pm

Related News

  • US sanctions UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese over ICC ties, criticism of Israel
  • 35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'agree on most issues' as first day of talks ends
  • Bangladesh-US two-day tariff talks begin in Washington
  • None saw it coming: What went wrong in Bangladesh’s tariff negotiation with US 
  • Texas search teams face more rain as death toll surpasses 80

Eco-fascism: The greenwashing of the far right

White-supremacist killers are invoking environmental concerns to justify murder. But what is eco-fascism and why are people attracted to it?

Deutsche Welle
21 May, 2022, 02:15 pm
Last modified: 21 May, 2022, 02:23 pm
The Buffalo shooter targeted Black people, linking mass migration with environmental degradation and other eco-fascist ideas. Photo: Reuters
The Buffalo shooter targeted Black people, linking mass migration with environmental degradation and other eco-fascist ideas. Photo: Reuters

At least three far-right massacres in recent years have been allegedly perpetrated by people who identify as eco-fascists.

The accused murderer of 10 Black people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, entwined antisemitic conspiracy theories with a form of natural conservation. In a 180-page racist diatribe the 18-year-old linked mass migration with the degradation of the natural environment as a justification for murder.

The alleged perpetrator appears to share many of the views held by the young men who in 2019 committed racist massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Christchurch, New Zealand. Indeed, the alleged Buffalo killer appears to have copied large sections of his screed from the Christchurch killer.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The Christchurch killer, who shot dead 51 people at two mosques, described himself as an "ethno-nationalist eco-fascist," and called for "ethnic autonomy" as well as "the preservation of nature, and the natural order." In his diatribe, the Australian man linked climate change to overpopulation by non-Europeans, which is one of the central ideas of eco-fascism.

What is an eco-fascist?

"The most simple definition would be (someone with) a fascist politic or a fascist worldview that is invoking environmental concern or environmental rhetoric to justify the hateful and extreme elements of their ideology," Cassidy Thomas told DW.

Thomas is a PhD student at Syracuse University in upstate New York who studies the intersection of right-wing extremism with environmental politics.

Thomas says regular fascists are populist ultranationalists who invoke a narrative of civilisational crisis, decline and rebirth along cultural and nationalist lines. Eco-fascists see climate change or ecological disturbances as the civilisational threat within that equation.

Eco-fascists are tied up in racist theories and believe that the degradation of the natural environment leads to the degradation of their culture and their people, added Thomas.

They are often radicalised online, as the latest alleged shooter claims to have been, and many believe that white people, along with the environment, are threatened by non-white overpopulation. They often call for a halt to immigration, or the eradication of non-white populations.

"What they envision is the dissolution of mixed-race, liberal democratic states or these very liberal and pluralistic democratic states, and the replacement of that political formation with ethnically defined and ecological states that are smaller in nature," said Thomas.

Their over-simplistic theories fail to address the complex realities of climate change and ecological damage, and ignore the fact that the Global North is responsible for most of the emissions that have caused global heating, for instance.

Why are people drawn to eco-fascism?

Far-right ideologies such as eco-fascism are attracting young people who have grown up with climate change but see that governments have failed to tackle the crisis properly.

"Unfortunately, as climate change has gotten worse over the past 30 years and more difficult to ignore or to question — even from the most far-right or conservative elements of the political scene — you're beginning to see individuals who have an incredibly nihilistic view and an incredibly bleak view of the future of the world," Thomas said.

Eco-fascist narratives provide believers with a "sense of purpose" and a "call to action," added Thomas.

"And that's why these eco-fascist narratives that are cultivated in these online subcultures are so dangerous."

Such theories are often propagated in fringe sites such as 4chan, 8chan, and the now-defunct Iron March forum, as well as more mainstream platforms such as Twitter.

After each of the previous killing sprees, researchers saw a spike in eco-fascist interest in fringe online communities as well as online search traffic.  

Eco-fascism in politics?

Right-wing populists have traditionally embraced climate change denial, but are increasingly seeing potential in capitalising on climate change concerns.

In one notorious example, the attorney general of the US state of Arizona, having previously misrepresented climate science, cited environmental protection when he sued the Biden administration for loosening immigration laws. He claimed that Latin American migrants would use up resources, cause emissions and pollute the environment if they weren't kept out by a wall with Mexico.

In Europe, Marine Le Pen has invoked climate change and environmental protection in her nationalist campaigns, while the youth wing of Germany's far-right climate-sceptic AfD party called on the party to embrace climate change as an effective recruitment tool.

As Canadian author and climate activist Naomi Klein told the HuffPost: "There is a rage out there that is going to go somewhere, and we have demagogues who are expert at directing that rage at the most vulnerable among us while protecting the most powerful and most culpable."

Nazi origins of eco-fascism

Although made up of various strands of far-right theories, much eco-fascist ideology has its roots in early Nazi movements and the fascist party in Italy.

"In Germany, they would use these environmental talking points to partially justify some of their key initiatives like Lebensraum," Thomas said. Lebensraum was the Nazi settler-colonialist concept of creating "living space" for Germans.

"They saw the presence of these non-German peoples as a threat simultaneously to the integrity of German culture and the German environment."

That ideology led to the 1935 Reichsnaturschutzgesetz, Germany's first conservation laws, as well as a push for organic farming.

Elements of the far-right scene in Germany and across Europe still champion environmental causes, and things like organic farming. In Germany, environmental groups risk being infiltrated by far-right extremists.

Thomas said there are similarities in the drivers toward eco-fascism today. in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, people saw that capitalism and industrialism brought with it rapid urbanisation and environmental degradation, as well as the displacement of rural populations.

And in the United States, far-right figures have increasingly invoked environmental concerns as justification for their beliefs, including white nationalist leader Richard Spencer. Ahead of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, he included a large section on protecting nature in his online screed.

Previously he said "population control and reduction" is the "obvious solution to the ravages of climate change."

Environmentalists reject far-right ideology

The mainstream environmentalist movement, which has largely embraced social justice, has repeatedly rejected eco-fascists, saying the ideology greenwashes hate and is more focused on white supremacy than environmental protection.

They also say that the major perpetrators of ecological destruction are wealthy, Western nations, and not the people the eco-fascists seek to destroy. United Nations analysis has shown that wealth increase, not population growth, is a far greater driver of resource-use.

According to the IPCC, the effect of population growth is dwarfed by the rise in emissions per person. People in the world's richest countries emit 50 times more than those in the poorest, despite having much slower population growth.

Environmentalists instead call for a decoupling of population growth and resource use and emissions by reorganising economies and embracing sustainable practices.


Alistair Walsh. Illustration: TBS
Alistair Walsh. Illustration: TBS

Alistair Walsh is an international reporter for Deutsche Welle.

Disclaimer: This article first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and is published by special syndication arrangement.

Features / Top News / World+Biz

facism / Radical groups / USA / Far right

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    Lowest SSC pass rate in 17 years as over 600,000 students fail
  • BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir while speaking at a discussion at National Press Club on 10 July 2025. Photo: TBS
    'Backbone of economy will break': Fakhrul says govt should've worked seriously with more qualified people on US tariffs
  • National Consensus Commission chief Ali Riaz speaks at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital’s Bailey Road on 10 July 2025. Photo: Collected
    Chief justice appointment: Consensus reached on two key issues, says Ali Riaz

MOST VIEWED

  • Graphics: TBS
    BB raises startup fund limit, drops upper age barrier
  • Workers pack undergarments at the packing section of a garment factory in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fatima Tuj Johora
    After US tariffs, jobs hang by a thread in Bangladesh's garments sector
  • Global Islami Bank rectifies 2023 figures, reports Tk2,259cr loss instead of Tk128cr profit
    Global Islami Bank rectifies 2023 figures, reports Tk2,259cr loss instead of Tk128cr profit
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Audit reports of most banks contain cooked up data: BB governor
  • File photo of containers at Chattogram port/TBS
    US buyers push Bangladeshi exporters to share extra tariff costs
  • CA orders law enforcers to complete all election preparations by December
    CA orders law enforcers to complete all election preparations by December

Related News

  • US sanctions UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese over ICC ties, criticism of Israel
  • 35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'agree on most issues' as first day of talks ends
  • Bangladesh-US two-day tariff talks begin in Washington
  • None saw it coming: What went wrong in Bangladesh’s tariff negotiation with US 
  • Texas search teams face more rain as death toll surpasses 80

Features

Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

1h | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered- have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

1h | Panorama
Women are forced to fish in saline waters every day, risking their health to provide for their families. Photo: TBS

How Mongla’s women are bearing the brunt of rising salinity

23h | Panorama
Dr Mostafa Abid Khan. Sketch: TBS

Actual impact will depend on how US retailers respond: Mostafa Abid Khan

2d | Economy

More Videos from TBS

Islami bank aims to increase deposits to Tk 2 lakh crore by 2025

Islami bank aims to increase deposits to Tk 2 lakh crore by 2025

2h | TBS Programs
The two countries still face major challenges and mutual suspicions

The two countries still face major challenges and mutual suspicions

1h | Others
RMG sector braces for impact as US tariffs hit: Fakhrul

RMG sector braces for impact as US tariffs hit: Fakhrul

2h | TBS Today
Ex-IGP Mamun petitions to turn state’s witness

Ex-IGP Mamun petitions to turn state’s witness

2h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net