In the last decade, we have seen how young people globally have become the face of the climate justice movement. From Fridays for Future to Extinction Rebellion Youth, Gen Z activists are pushing climate change into the mainstream discourses in our society. They are active with their marches, initiatives, passionate speeches, as well as digital campaigns on social media. Amidst the growing movement, there is an urgency to underscore a paradigm: decolonizing youth climate activism.

Climate Change and Colonialism

As the movement grows, criticism also arises: mainstream environmentalism is often framed in isolation from the histories and power structures that created the crisis in the first place. Climate change is not just a scientific problem. Rather, it is the direct outcome of colonial extraction, dispossession, and resource exploitation. It impacts and is impacted by  the uneven development between the Global North and the Global South.

Colonialism has played a part in the extractive economies that treat land, water, and people as resources to be exploited. Today, colonialism can hide under new names: development, transition, security, and investment.

The Global North’s pursuit of development often depends on the continued extraction and exploitation of labor and lands from the Global South. The push for “green” innovations like electric vehicles, for example, relies on lithium from Bolivia, cobalt from Congo, and nickel from Indonesia. Yet, the communities living on those lands are rarely the ones who benefit. What they get is pollution, land dispossession, and displacement.

Wars and occupation also leave deep ecological wounds that hardly ever make it into climate conversations. In Palestine, for instance, military bombardment has destroyed olive groves, farmland, and water infrastructures. These issues remain elusive and are seldom talked about in the international environmental forums being held annually.

Decolonizing Youth Climate Activism

Youth climate activism is at risk of reenacting the existing injustice. This gap becomes more visible when we see whose voices are centered and whose realities are being ignored.

A majority of high-profile youth climate activists who gain media attention come from the Global North. Which is interesting, bearing in mind the fact that communities in the Global South are the ones facing the most severe impacts of environmental breakdown. The erasure of Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate from a press photo in 2020 is an example of media bias and an illustration of how climate narratives still reflect colonial hierarchies.

However, there is room to grow, and the youth are evolving. Greta Thunberg, for instance, is one of the most recognizable voices within the movement. Her activism represents the anger and urgency of the younger generation while showcasing a sense of collectiveness, persistence, and moral clarity.

Greta also signifies a lesson learned, a shift in consciousness in youth climate activism. She initially focused her activism on emissions and government inaction. Then, in recent years, she has also spoken about Indigenous land rights, the occupation of Palestine, and the environmental violence in war and militarism. This shows a growing understanding among youth that sustainability without justice is incomplete.

Gen Zs all around the world are realizing that the climate crisis is inseparable from the political and economic systems that cause and sustain it. There is a growing understanding that when environmental activists call for action without acknowledging the root causes, there is a risk of depoliticizing the problem.

Toward Justice-Based Climate Action

The call for climate action is no longer just about “listening to the science”. It is about listening to and championing the people who have been resisting environmental violence for generations. To make youth climate activism meaningful, Gen Z must continue to move beyond awareness-raising toward reimagining environmentalism through a justice lens.

What does this mean? This means rejecting climate and environmental solutions that reproduce inequality. This includes questioning whose land is used for sustainability development projects and centering communities whose lives are shaped by colonial legacies and present-day militarism. Furthermore, it means acknowledging the fact that net-zero goals are impossible to achieve when the same entities advocating them continue to fund fossil fuel extraction and support wars that poison land and water.

Ultimately, environmental destruction is and has always followed the path of colonial power. Decolonizing environmentalism does not weaken the movement; it strengthens it. It opens the door to solutions rooted in accountability, solidarity, and compassion. Youth climate activism must consider the social, economic, and political aspects of their advocacy and their movement. It must call for the transformation of the systems that move the world.

If Gen Z wants to redefine the future of their Earth, they must also redefine the fight: not just against climate change, but against the structures that created it in the first place.

Editor: Nazalea Kusuma

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Cahaya Arga Putri Diponegoro

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Cahaya is an International Relations student at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Her academic focus is on global justice, decolonization, and minority representation. She has particular interests in environmental and social issues.

• Cahaya Arga Putri Diponegoro

  Gen Z’s Youth Climate Activism Cannot Ignore Colonialism