Amid the growing challenges of ecological devastation, nation-states, international bodies, and corporations promote “green” initiatives and policies as pathways to a sustainable future. Emission offsets, solar energy, and electric vehicles are often presented as alternatives to the harmful fossil fuel-based economies that have led us to the current state of devastation. Nevertheless, these solutions are mineral-intensive, relying on distant natures and bodies to supply raw materials and labor (Andreucci et al., 2023; Zhou & Brown, 2024). Thus, blurring the line between extractivism-as-usual and green extractivism. This project examines how these 'green' narratives shape perceptions of socio-ecological violence and explores ways in which social science research can challenge such narratives. 

In collaboration with Prof. Carolina Olarte and the MASP Law Clinic at the Universidad de los Andes, the project focuses on analyzing Proyecto Mocoa. Framed by the promoting company as an effort to “unlock the value” of copper deposits to “fuel the green energy future,” Proyecto Mocoa aims to extract copper in the Colombian Amazon while being socially and ecologically beneficial (Cooper Giant, 2025). This depiction, however, is contested by local indigenous and peasant communities, as well as environmental advocates, who stress the importance of protecting the ecosystem’s integrity and warn of the risks of land dispossession. On the transnational level, the “green” extraction of copper raises capital in stock markets, is promoted as essential for developing renewable energy technologies and the automotive industry, and is seen as contributing to climate targets in the policy arena, such as the decarbonization goals of the European Union. 

The crucial question then is: “Green” for whom?

Since June 2024, the project has fostered three working initiatives: 

• Workshop - Reverdecer: prácticas, fronteras jurídicas y resistencias. 13 June, 2024. 
• X-Student Research Group. A counter-mapping of green extractivism: bridging conflict analysis and legal mobilization. Summer Semester 2025 
• X-Student Research Group. Mining the Amazon for a “green” future?: tracing the flows and costs of green extractivism. Winter Semester 2025/26