Ecology

Yearbook

    transform! yearbook 2021
  • transform! 2021 looks at capitalism's impact on the world ecosystem and the concomitant economic crisis, with their effects on logistics and borders, the structure of work, healthcare systems, European integration, geopolitical power relations, and gender relations – but at the same time the breaches in neoliberal hegemony.
    The Consequences of Climate Change for Left Strategy – A Roundtable
  • In periods of crisis socio-ecological questions are repeatedly pushed to the margins. Apart from the Greens, left parties have difficulty in creating systematic connections between economic, social, and ecological questions and in formulating political projects – reason enough for the editors of...
    Ecosocialism – from William Morris to Hugo Blanco
  • What is ecosocialism? Ecosocialism is a political current based on an essential insight: that the preservation of the ecological equilibrium of the planet and therefore of an environment favourable to living species – including our own – is incompatible with the expansive and destructive logic of...
    Basic Aspects of the Car Industry
  • In the history of all industrialised countries, the car industry represents both the good and bad aspects of the changes occurring in the move from old to new industrial realities. It was through the victories and defeats of this sector’s industrial disputes that the trade-union movement passed...
    Car Conversion: Towards an Eco-Socialist "Economy of Reproduction"
  • The car industry is a good example of the current many-sided crisis, or, better, its crystallisation point: for decades the industry has been characterised by enormous over-capacity – nevertheless western car manufacturers want to double production. At the same time, new and strong competitors are...
    Red and Green: The Ecosocialist Perspective
  • The earth’s ecological crisis has reached a decisive turning point with the phenomenon of climate change, a fateful process that is accelerating much more rapidly than predicted.   

Focus

Blog

    Beware Europe’s New Green Colonialism
  • Europe is leading the world in cutting carbon emissions largely by consolidating new forms of extractivism and sacrifice zones in the South. The authors Nnimmo Bassey, Breno Bringel, Liliana Buitrago, Madhuresh Kumar, Kavita Naidu, Vasna Ramasar, and Maristella Svampa analyse recent EU policies and advocate for alternatives to Green colonialism.
    Financialisation of Water and All of Nature: The Inacceptable Piracy of Life
  • Over the last three decades, money and finance, as well as power and war, have extended their grip on life. This expansion was facilitated in part by technology — new biotechnologies and artificial intelligence — but also by highly financialised market economies and their underlying principles of conquest and exploitation.
    The UNFCCC is Off-Track and Failing the Peoples of the World
  • transform! Europe supports the joint letter to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), originally initiated by Global Justice Now and signed by numerous organisations, networks and individuals. The full text of the joint letter can be found below.
    Reflections on Green Deal, Industrial Policies, and Geoeconomics/Geopolitics
  • The convergence of crises, including neoliberal capitalism, geopolitical conflicts, and the climate catastrophe, calls for a significant shift in EU policies. Harald Wolf explores the key factors that must be considered in redefining and reorienting the current policies to address the economic, industrial, and geopolitical challenges at hand.
    The Last Winter of Gas in Europe
  • We should not stand idly by as governments across the political spectrum repeatedly choose the path of collapse and ongoing social and economic crises to save the fossil fuel industry.
    Not A Peaceful Climate
  • Didem Aydurmus, German ecosocialist politician (DIE LINKE), emphasises the interaction between climate change as a trigger of wars and, at the same time, wars as one of the greatest burdens on the climate, and underlines the importance of consistent peacebuilding.
    Climate Crisis and Colonialism in Puerto Rico
  • Paul Lippert Figueroa, party leader of the Puerto Rico Independence Party (PIP) in the capital San Juan, comments on the intertwining between Puerto Rico's struggle for independence and the fight against the climate crisis.
    COP26 – Big Failure?
  • transform! europe's Roland Kulke critically reports on COP26, which took place in Glasgow in October/November 2021.
    Europäische Industriepolitik in Zeiten des Klimawandels
  • Das 1,5-Grad-Ziel zu erreichen, wird immer schwieriger. Warum es dazu eine transformative Industriepolitik braucht und warum es irrsinnig ist, Uran und Gas als umweltgerechte Energiequellen einzustufen, erklärt Roland Kulke von transform! europe im Gespräch mit Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Betrieb & Gewerkschaft.
    Fit for 55 Vote: Greenwashing and Power Games
  • The European Parliament votes down the controvese Emissions Trading System (ETS). It was rejected by a clear majority, with the Green and Socialist MEPs rejecting the proposal because the amendments of the conservative groups weakened it too much in their opinion, while the right-wing groups considered it too ambitious.
    Manifesto for a Green, Just and Democratic European Economy
  • transform! europe, together with more than 270 civil society organisations, academics, and other think tanks from all 27 EU Member States, is issuing the Manifesto for a Green, Just, and Democratic European Economy, calling for fundamental change of the EU’s Economic Governance Framework.
    People and Nature vs. the UNFCCC: A People’s Tribunal
  • On 7 November, in the framework of the Peoples' Summit during the Glasgow COP26, a jury found the UNFCCC guilty of several serious charges, including failing of address the root causes of climate change. Furthermore, the UNFCCC violated the UN Charter. Therefore the jury claims wide-ranging measures of redress for the peoples of the world.
    Glasgow Greenwashed? Left MEPs at COP26 for Systemic Change
  • From 31 October, world leaders and experts will meet in Glasgow at the global climate talks, COP26. Over thirteen days, they will discuss and negotiate our future. While they bring their sponsors from big tech, big pharma and agribusiness, we’re getting organised to bring climate justice.
    On the COP26 Global Climate Talks
  • World leaders and experts will meet in Glasgow in November at the global climate talks, COP26. The decisions made at COP26 will shape how governments respond (or not) to the climate crisis. Get an overview on the main actors and the key aims. An explainer by the COP26 Coalition.
    The EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ Climate Package – Insufficient and Unbalanced
  • On 14 July 2021 the European Commission presented its climate protection project ‘Fit for 55’ for implementing Europe’s climate legislation. As a whole, the merits of Fit for 55 are mixed. Although it contains steps in the right direction it also has points in urgent need of improvement in the sense of strong climate protection and social justice.
    Working Time Reduction and Climate Crisis
  • Organised by the European Network for the fair sharing of working time and supported by the Brussels Office of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, a member organisation of transform! europe, this conference was centered around the question of the role of working time reduction when addressing climate change. Watch the full recording!
    Christian-Marxist Dialogue on Achieving Ecological Ecumenism
  • The DIALOP is a joint project between universities, foundations, and associations, developed by faculty members with different ideological and philosophical, Marxist or Christian backgrounds. In times of growing social challenges, its aim is to promote dialogue between Marxist and Christian...
    Amfis2020 by La France Insoumise
  • La France Insoumise had its summer university in Valence from 19th to 22 August. This meeting was obviously overshadowed by the Corona Crisis and its brutal impact on the popular classes in France. But also the attempts of the government to push through anti-social pension and unemployment “reforms”...
    2020: Greenhouse gases at record levels and getting worse
  • Lockdown and economic slowdown in many countries have only slightly mitigated the further increase in greenhouse gas emissions. According to the latest report coordinated by the WMO, the world is still ‘not on track to meet agreed targets to keep global temperature increase well below 2 °C or at 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels’.
    The European Automotive Sector – Time to Rethink Mobility!
  • Every sector of the economy has felt the impact of the coronavirus crisis, and car manufacturing is no exception. There are 12 million EU workers employed in the automotive industry, either directly in production or in parts manufacturing, and the sector accounts for 7% of the union’s GDP.[1] If we...
    The Pandemic as Part of a Much Broader Crisis of Civilisation
  • The corona crisis has already killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Politicians and society as a whole have rightly focused on combating the virus. However, underneath the pandemic there is still an environmental catastrophe exploding in slow motion. The corona crisis is only a small part of this puzzle.
    Politics in the Face of a Climate Disaster
  • In 2015, when the Paris Agreement was still under negotiations, British journalist Paul Mason expressed his doubts whether the agreement would be signed and wrote that such climate conferences „resemble the peace treaties that paved the way to the Second World War."[1] Although Mason was wrong about...
    Industrial Workers Want the European Green Deal to Deliver on Just Transition
  • Luc Triangle, General Secretary of industriAll (the Trade Union Federation of Trade Unions in the manufacturing, mining and energy sectors) reminds us: "decarbonisation is not happening in a social vacuum. Years of austerities have increased precariousness and inequalities while weakening public services and threatening workers' rights".
    Work and Economy in the Climate Crisis
  • The earth is heating up faster and faster. We live, work and produce at the expense of others and at the expense of our future. What needs to change? What challenges and tasks do employees and trade unions face in order to make good work and a good life for all possible?
    In the Great Transformation
  • The Red-Green Alliance/Enhedslisten (Denmark) adopted at its Annual Congress on 5 – 6 October a program on globalisation entitled A Green Earth With Peace and Room for Us All, thus becoming the first party providing a comprehensive analysis on the current stage of international capitalism. Read Walter Baier's review.
    A Green Earth With Peace And Room For Us All
  • Draft Globalization programme submitted by the National Board of the Red-Green Alliance/Enhedslisten, Denmark, to the party’s next Annual Congress on 5 - 6 October. It is a programmatic text about global development.
    Natural Gas – No Solution for Climate Change
  • In times of an urgent climate crisis and climate movements, the calls for alternatives to dirty fossil fuels become louder and louder. The biggest climate enemies we know about so far are oil and coal. They emit considerable amounts of CO2 and we will inevitably have to stop using them to keep global temperatures within livable ranges.
    Gloomy Perspectives for Climate Change
  • Not so long ago there was an agreement upon that we should keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius to avoid the major climate disaster. In the global climate agreement from 2015, the Paris agreement, it was formulated that the global average temperature must be kept well under 2°C....
    Civil Society Declaration of Marrakech
  • We, Moroccan, Maghreb, African and International social movements, assembled in Marrakech during COP22, reaffirm our determination to build and defend climate justice, and to act now in order to ensure global warmingremains under the target of 1.5°C – in line with commitments made by heads of state in Paris.
    “System Change, Not Climate Change”
  • The United Nations Conference on Climate (COP 21) is taking place in Paris. But while the situation is grim, international climate justice and social movements, citizens’ organisations and trade unions are determined to remain united in the Climate 21 Coalition.
    Background of the climate negotiations in Paris
  • On 30 November the 21st UN Climate Change Summit (COP21) started in Paris. All the way since the Rio Conference in 1992, the aim of these summits has been to agree on policies which can stop global warming and prevent climate catastrophe.
    Paying climate debts for global climate justice
  • The issue of worldwide climate injustice has been high on the agenda of the global climate movement for several years. This injustice stems from the fact that many countries of the Global South are suffering the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change even though they themselves played a very small role in creating it.
    Ecosocialism, Climate Change and Left Politics
  • Climate change is the most serious and acute threat currently faced by humanity. What is the left approach to the issue? Different aspects of ecosocialism were discussed in the international seminar “The Climate Change and Left Politics”, hold in Helsinki on 24 October. The seminar also functioned as a publication event of the book “The Politics of Ecosocialism – Transforming welfare”.
    “System Change, Not Climate Change” – Citizens’ Voices and COP21
  • As the United Nations Conference on Climate (COP21) approaches, citizens’ organisations and social movements around the world are determined not to let the heads of states and governments make decisions behind closed doors on issues that affect us all without having a say. Two events were recently held in Paris to prepare the civil society’s mobilisation at the margins of the COP 21 – with a strong focus on alternatives.
    Perspectives to Sustainable Futures
  • The Nordic joint transform! project brings together ideas on ecosocialist paths for future welfare states. These ideas were presented first time publicly at the Historical Materialism Conference in London.
    10 Points for a Trade Union Strategy Against Climate Change
  • Since each of us gets only some few minutes for our contributions on such a large subject as climate change, I have chosen to put forward ten brief points on a trade union strategy against climate change. Firstly, I will shortly establish some of the important factual basis on which we have to build...
    “More Alternatives to Growth”
  • Tranform!Danmark held its third international conference on 15 March this year – the first and the second had taken place in March 2012 and 2013 respectively. These international conferences in Copenhagen are efforts to promote alternative thinking and politics to environmental and mainstream economy and thinking, with the two last conferences having focused on alternatives to growth and to so-called “green growth”.
    Alternative World Water Forum and Rio+20
  • The Alternative World Water Forum (AWWF) took place in Marseille from 14 to 17 March. The official Forum on Water took place at the same time. The latter was a strikingly bitter failure, with only 3,000 participants of the 20,000 expected. The AWWF, on the other hand, with far less resources,...
    Copenhagen Summit: People Must Adopt These Issues As Their Own
  • Emergency climate control and social justice: people must adopt these issues as vital ones. Yet, a few days before the opening of the Copenhagen Summit, the chances of arriving at an agreement on these questions are minimal. There are four major areas of disagreement: The first point of...
    Social-ecological Reconstruction as a Challenge for Left/Socialist Politics
  • We are concerned with societal changes which improve people’s conditions of life. “People’s conditions of life” always involve the integrity of people, their individual freedom and possible influence on social developments, their social relations and social security and their natural environment....

Publication

    Studies on Challenges in Post-Coal Regions
  • The aim of this research is to develop and provide basic knowledge on the challenges of the "coal exit" for the areas of North Czech Republic, East Germany and large parts of South-West and Central Poland.
    The EU Recovery and Resilience Programmes after COVID-19
  • This eDossier summarises studies from all parts of Europe that aim to analyse how the discussions on the return of austerity policies are being conducted and whether a care society, a climate policy is in the discourse in the respective countries. And last but not least, which left alternatives to the hegemonic state projects have been developed.
    Caught Between the Covid-19 Crisis and the War in Ukraine: the EU in 2022
  • This year’s EuroMemorandum focuses not only on EU´s failure in seeking multilateral cooperation for the Covid-19 pandemic. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also marks a dramatic turning point for the international system itself and in particular for the political and economic development of the EU. What is the right approach to these issues?
    A Post-Covid 19 Global-Local Agenda for a Socio-Ecological Transformation in Europe
  • The Euromemo Group firmly believes that a comprehensive and radical programme for socio-ecological transformation is required to achieve the necessary transition to a sustainable future. This year’s report focuses on a number of dimensions that have too often remained sidelined in Green Deal discussions, but which merit particular attention.
    Democratic Control for Access to Land
  • The Catalan member organization of transform! europe, Fundació l'Alternativa has released a guide for Municipalities on democratic control for access to land.
    Ecofeminist review of the proposals for a Green New Deal
  • Basque researcher Júlia Martí Comas presents a critical review from an ecofeminist point of view of the DiEM25 proposal The Green New Deal for Europe, and Resolution Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal, presented to the US House of Representatives by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey.
    A Green New Deal for Europe – Opportunities and Challenges. EuroMemo 2020
  • Given its urgency, this year’s EuroMemorandum puts special emphasis on the climate crisis and other planetary boundaries. In tandem with deepening social inequalities, renascent authoritarian nationalisms and the crisis of global governance, they urgently need comprehensive and effective policy responses...
    Transport and Climate Crisis – Lessons for the Left
  • Jens Holm invites the European Left to discuss the transition to sustainable transport: how can topics as diverse as the digital revolution, the climate crisis, the future of our cities and global value chains be integrated in one discussion?
    Social and Ecological Considerations for the Future of the Construction Sector
  • Without the construction sector, there can be no productive transformation and no Socialist Green New Deal. In this ePaper Stephen Schindler shows why it is so important for the left to familiarize itself with the construction sector and to push it to the centre stage in the discourse for the productive transformation of our European societies.
    Climate and Energy Transition in the Balkans
  • The publication starts with more general perspectives and the consequences of climate change for Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Bulgaria and continues in a second part with energy, using the examples of Croatia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. An eDossier by Bilten in cooperation with transform! europe.

Calendar

    2023 Global Climate Jobs
  • As one of the supporters, transform! europe invites you to join the 2023 Global Climate Jobs Conference in Amsterdam from 6 to 8 October, when climate, social and labour movements and activists will come together to organise and build social power for radically progressive policies that stop climate change!
    Beyond Growth - Pathways Towards Sustainable Prosperity in the EU
  • The Beyond Growth 2023 Conference is a multi-stakeholder event aiming to discuss and co-create policies for sustainable prosperity in Europe, based on a systemic and transformative approach to economic, social and environmental sustainability and its encompassing governance framework. transform! europe participates as one of the supporting partners
    “Climate Change - Collateral Damage of Military Spending”
  • Over the past few years, Transform!Danmark International Climate Conferences have focused on the need for systemic change to tackle climate change. With this conference we want to continue and strengthen our arguments and work to build political, economic, social and ecological alternatives.
    No Survival Without Peace
  • This international hybrid event brings together organisations and activists working for peace and the environment in Finland and internationally and aims to create discussions about the common goals of the peace and environmental movements and to build a path towards a new joint action of people's movements on behalf of humanity and the planet.
    Seminar Festival of the Democratic Civic Association (DCA)
  • The topics of this year's Seminar Festival, which is organised by Democratic Civic Association (DCA) — a member organisation of transform! europe — will be on the environment, peace and economic and political injustice of the world. Warm welcome to join!
    Right to Energy Forum 2022
  • As energy prices soar, millions across Europe are at risk of energy poverty, a political issue burdening citizens with the choice of heating their homes or having food on the table. The time to act is now because having access to clean, affordable energy is a human right!
    What Transition Do We Want? Climate Jobs and Just Transition
  • We will discuss the prospects of Just Transition and climate jobs as seen from the Global South, the similarities and differences between Just Transition and Climate Justice and, finally, we will look critically at shutdowns of power plants that have already been carried out in Portugal.
    5th International Ecosocialist Encounters
  • This conference will tackle fundamental questions of how, by whom, and to what end ecosocialist initiatives positions can and should be buttressed to be able to stand a chance in the face of today's historical tasks. Join us!
    International Conference Constituting Democracies
  • International Conference with the participation of politicians, writers, social scientists from all over Latin America and Europe to discuss constituent processes, the emergence of fascism, art and politics, plurinationality, geopolitics, climate crisis and fake news, among other topics.
    transform! europe at COP26
  • As part of the COP26 Coalition, transform! europe co-organises discussions in the framework of the COP26 People's Summit For Climate Justice. Bringing together the climate justice movement to discuss, learn and strategise for system change.
    Climate Change – What is Changing?
  • Discussion with Brazilian climate researcher and activist Sabrina Fernandes on key contemporary issues, organised by transform!Danmark, NOAH – Friends of the Earth, Global Aktion, and Extinction Rebellion.
    The Climate After Trump: What Are the Challenges and Opportunities?
  • The change in the US administration has had a very evident impact on Climate and relations with the EU. After Joe Biden reversed predecessor Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement and the Leaders Summit on Climate in April, the global agenda had dramatically changed. The...
    How to Combat Climate Warming – Green Capitalism or System Change ?
  • The industrial and economic slowdown due to the pandemic is no substitute for sustained climate action. How can concrete and more ambitious goals in climate and environmental policies be achieved? Are the measures and goals adopted by the EU, governments and institutions much more than a greening of...
    "Where Are We Today?" "What Do We Need to Do?"
  • The Global Dialogue for Systemic Change invites you to two seminars on December 10 and 15. These will be in-depth seminars, they will take a form between the political discussion and the webinar. These meetings and the interventions that will take place will be reserved for a list of about a hundred...
    The Energy We Need
  • The new weekly webinar series, organized by transform! europe together with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels and New York Offices, focused on developing internationalist visions for Green New Deal(s) that will work for the whole planet in the post-Covid era.
    Alternative Trade Rules for Climate Action
  • The new weekly webinar series, organized by transform! europe together with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels and New York Offices, focused on developing internationalist visions for Green New Deal(s) that will work for the whole planet in the post-Covid era.

Webinars

    Labour and Just Transition(s)
  • This webinar, hosted by transform! europe and AEPF (Asia Europe People's Forum), aims to explore and discuss ways to overcome the often sterile debates between orthodox and heterodox advocates of 'change' and 'transition' in order to solve existing ecological, economic and social problems. Watch the video recording of the webinar!
    Extractivism, Human Rights and ISDS: Hard Law vs. Soft Law
  • This webinar will showcase the provisions in free trade and investment agreements that have given rise to an increase in the use of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) through which corporations enforce investment protections on governments, especially in the Global South. We will focus on...
    The Energy We Need
  • The new weekly webinar series, organized by transform! europe together with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels and New York Offices, focused on developing internationalist visions for Green New Deal(s) that will work for the whole planet in the post-Covid era.
    Alternative Trade Rules for Climate Action
  • The new weekly webinar series, organized by transform! europe together with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels and New York Offices, focused on developing internationalist visions for Green New Deal(s) that will work for the whole planet in the post-Covid era.