CAPPE’s 17th annual international, interdisciplinary conference

August 31-September 2, 2022

The urgency of the climate emergency has seen a wide range of political responses over recent decades. Many struggles are fought by marginalised groups and those most acutely affected by the impacts of the crisis. The recent COP26 conference was viewed as a failure by many. World political leaders did reaffirm commitments to reducing emissions and embracing sustainability. However, critics argue that the superficial promises made equate to hypocritical ‘greenwashing.’ They failed to address the root causes of the climate crisis, ignored climate inequalities, and affirmed business as usual. The configuration of actors designing and implementing climate policies reinforces the mainstream coloniality of climate politics. It silences indigenous voices, ignores the pleas of many transnationally, and crafts a colonial narrative of sustainability and development with little recognition of historical injustice.

This conference focuses on challenging the hegemony of mainstream climate politics. It puts at its centre the people around the globe most affected by the crisis. It questions the narrative of humanity and rights central to COP26 and it proposes alternative future. We ask (i) What are the links between colonialism, coloniality, and climate crisis? (ii) What does it mean to decolonise climate politics? What alternatives and opportunities do decolonial climate politics offer? (iii) Who are the actors whose voices and knowledges should be amplified? In what ways can this be done? (iv) Is climate justice possible within the existing global order?

The conference invites papers that destabilise the hegemonic ‘greenwashing’ that COP26 reinforced, and engage with climate and environmental politics challenging such approaches. Topics for consideration include (but are not limited to):

• Social movements and climate protests

• Colonialism, coloniality and environmental destruction

• Decolonial theory and its relationship to climate and the environment

• Critique and the Politics of Nature

• Indigenous knowledges about climate and environment

• Gender, sexuality, and climate politics

• Climate Politics and Capital(ism)

• Rethinking ‘Animality’

• Sustainable development, post-development and post-sustainability critiques

• Degrowth

• Radical political ecology

• The politics of environmental governance

• Climate populism and environmental rights

• The politics of emissions schemes

• Science, knowledge and climate crisis

Please note that this conference will be held online, and there are no costs or fees to attend.

CAPPE welcomes paper, panel, and workshop submissions from activists and academics. Please submit your proposal(s) to Julia Hartviksen at disruptingclimatepolitics@brighton.ac.uk by July 15, 2022.

Paper proposal: 300-word abstract

Panel proposal: 300-500-word abstract detailing the focus of the panel, plus list of 3-5 speakers and paper titles

Workshop proposal: 300-500-word abstract detailing the focus of the workshop, plus list of speakers/facilitators