Green conservatism


Green conservatism is a combination of conservatism with environmentalism. Environmental concern has been voiced by both conservative politicians and philosophers throughout the history of conservatism. The distinguishing feature of green conservatism is the adherence to market-based policies to address environmental concerns, rather than centralised planning. Individual and local empowerment is preferred over top down control. Where solutions to problems are global, such as climate change, green conservatives believe the government's role "is to empower individuals, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists to collaborate and come up with innovations that will solve climate change".

Variants

Americas

Brazil

The National Ecologic Party had ties to the Assemblies of God, the largest evangelical denomination present in Brazil, and upheld green conservatism but it has now changed its name to Patriota and renounced its green and pro-ecologist policies in favor of its conservative and nationalist policies; it has maintained and strengthened its religious opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and other left-wing policies.

Canada

In Canada, the term "green conservatism" was popularized in 2006 by Preston Manning, former federal opposition leader and founder of the Reform Party of Canada. Specifically, Manning started developing the idea as a way to find common ground between younger and older voters. He has specifically talked about using water pricing in the Oil Sands to make oil producers more efficient. In 1988, then-graduate student Stephen Harper, writing in the Blue Book, which influenced the Reform Party principles, argued for an environmental policy that supports and protects the environment but reduces bureaucratic control. Harper argued that the Reform Party was aware of environmental exploitation found within "socialist, capitalist, and social democratic patterns." Canadian idealist and philosopher George Parkin Grant, writing in the Red Tory Manifesto, argued that Tories support environmental incentives as a way to oppose "captains of industry who were destroying the environment for a crude and short-sighted notion of profit".
In 2006, Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, was honoured as "the greenest prime minister in Canadian history". He brought in the Canada-U.S. acid rain treaty, added eight new national parks and brought in the Environmental Protection Act. Then-PM Stephen Harper argued that "He didn't produce grandiose schemes and unworkable arrangements and the kind of problems we got into with Kyoto."
The Coalition Avenir Québec's party leader François Legault advocates a 'pragmatic' approach on the issues that would balance between the "milltant" approach of the environment movement but "create wealth, to reduce the wealth gap" between Quebec and other Canadian provinces. In 2019, Benoit Charette, the Quebec Environmental minister, denounced remarks made by people stating that they would no longer have children to protect the environment as "too alarmist". However, Charette pointed to "the management of residual materials and the issue of plastic and glass water bottles directly" as a way to tackle environmental issues realistically.

Mexico

The Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, founded in 1993, won 47 seats in the 2015 Mexican legislative election.
In 2008, the PVEM initiated an advertising campaign in favor of reintroducing the death penalty in Mexico. This led to the European Green Party's withdrawal of recognition of the PVEM as a legitimate green party.
During an interview, PVE candidate Gamaliel Ramírez verbally attacked an openly gay candidate for Guadalajara mayor and called for criminal laws against homosexuality to be established. In the following days, Ramírez issued a written apology after the party expressed disappointment at his remarks.

United States

One of the first uses of the term green conservatism was by former United States Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in a debate on environmental issues with John Kerry, according to Human Events. Around this time, the green conservative movement was sometimes referred to as the crunchy con movement, a term popularized by National Review magazine and the writings of Rod Dreher.
In the United States, the Republican Party is generally considered as the conservative party. Green conservatism manifested itself as a movement in groups such as ConservAmerica and the American Conservation Coalition, which seek to strengthen the Republican Party's stance on environmental issues and support efforts to conserve natural resources and protect human and environmental health.
The Independent Greens of Virginia call themselves "common sense conservatives". The party, over the last decade, has run many conservative greens for local, state, and federal office. In 2004, the party gave its ballot line to Constitution Party nominee Michael Peroutka for president, and in 2008, once again placed the Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin on the ballot as its presidential candidate. The Indy Greens call for balancing the federal budget and paying off the federal debt.
The Republican Party had long supported the protection of the environment in the first half of 20th Century. Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was a prominent conservationist whose policies eventually led to the creation of the modern National Park Service. Republican President Richard Nixon was responsible for establishing the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.
In 2007, California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the support of 16 other states, sued the federal government and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for the right to set vehicle emission standards higher than the federal standard, saying that the Clean Air Act entitles states to do so.
Democratic President Bill Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol but did not send it to the Senate for ratification following the passage of the Byrd–Hagel Resolution, which effectively barred the United States from implementing the treaty. President George W. Bush publicly opposed ratification of the Kyoto Protocols on the grounds that they unfairly targeted Western industrialized nations such as the United States while favoring developing Global South polluters such as China and India.
In 2000, the Republican Party adopted as part of its platform support for the development of market-based solutions to environmental problems. According to the platform, "economic prosperity and environmental protection must advance together, environmental regulations should be based on science, the government's role should be to provide market-based incentives to develop the technologies to meet environmental standards, we should ensure that environmental policy meets the needs of localities, and environmental policy should focus on achieving results processes."
The George W. Bush administration, along with several of the candidates that sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, supported increased Federal investment into the development of clean alternative fuels, increased nuclear power, as well as fuels such as ethanol, as a way of helping the U.S. achieve energy independence, as opposed to supporting less use of carbon dioxide-producing methods of generating energy. John McCain, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, supported the cap-and-trade policy, a policy that is quite popular among Democrats but much less so among other Republicans.

Asia

Japan

In Japan, the Environmental Green Political Assembly, or Midori no Kaigi, emerged from the conservative reformist Sakigake Party. It combined a conservative ideology with an ecologist platform, forcing out a number of non-ecologist members to join the Democratic Party's faction. It showed poor performance at the polls, and was dissolved in 2004, merged into the conservative Liberal Democratic Party.

Europe

Austria

The Austrian environmental movement was founded in 1973, out of this, the Electoral community for citizens' initiatives and environmental protection has emerged. The WBU was thereby a grouping with bourgeois, liberal and conservative sides, which also did not shy away from the right-wing extremist spectrum.
The United Greens of Austria was founded in 1982, this represented the bourgeois wing of the movement. By former members VGÖ later the Civil Green Austria was founded.
The Free Party Salzburg claims to be the only party that advocates that no genetically modified seed funds may be spread and has advocated against genetic engineering. It calls for a ban on glyphosate and it "deals with the green issues in Salzburg".
The second Kurz government of the Republic of Austria that was in office from 7 January 2020, to 11 October 2021, introduced a governing program that combines typically green political concepts such as environmental protection but also typically conservative positions on topics such as integration, migration and economic policy.

Denmark

In Denmark, the Conservative People's Party advocates conservative policies, while being a part of the green bloc of Folketinget. They opposed the Danish 2016 Agriculture Reform due to environmental concerns.

France

is an ecologically focused political party in France. It has been nicknamed 'The Blues' due to its association with a number of conservative political groups.
Antoine Waechter, a former presidential candidate of Les Verts, founded Mouvement Ecologiste Indépendant after Les Verts adopted left-wing positions. Mouvement Ecologiste Indépendant adheres to centrist politics and so it may include some members who lean towards green conservatism.

Germany

The governing Greens in the state of Baden-Württemberg under Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann have been described as more conservative than their federal counterparts. Indeed, Kretschmann identifies as a green conservative and has been associated with economically liberal viewpoints.
The Green Action Future, the predecessor party of the ÖDP, was perceived and criticized in opinion leaders such as Der Spiegel as clearly conservative.
In Germany, the Ecological Democratic Party was formed by more right-wing defectors from Die Grünen in 1982. It combined a focus on environmental protection with a promotion of the right to life ; it differs from The Greens by being less supportive of immigration and restrictions on state powers in criminal justice issues, not focusing on gay and lesbian rights, and having a differing view on feminism. While having never gained seats in federal or state legislatures in Germany, it made a name for itself by its involvement in the opposition to a Czech nuclear reactor in Temelin, across the border from Bavaria. It led an initiative for a popular referendum to abolish the Bavarian Senate which was successful. The party won a seat in the 2014 EU Parliament election and remains active.