Far-right actors have emerged as a growing social crisis, capitalising on popular global concern about the environment while advocating authoritarian climate solutions. Often referred to as ‘eco-fascist’ are extreme population control measures advocated by right-wing activists and ethnonationalist governments, and the accelerationist propaganda of violent actors hastening the social and economic collapse of societies worldwide.This project aims to respond to a dearth of knowledge and lack of adequate responses to eco-fascism by pioneering research to generate the knowledge base needed to account for political engagement by diverse actors with eco-fascist ideation. These events have had particular significance for Australia, given its geo-political situation, devastating experience of global heating, restrictive immigration policies and political violence emanating from the country’s political situation, evidenced, as one example, by the actions of a self-described Australian ‘eco-fascist’ who perpetrated a mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019.

Imogen Richards is a lecturer in criminology at Deakin University. Her research focuses on social, news, and alternative forms of online media. Additionally, she writes about the political economy of (counter-)terrorism and the performance of security in response to social crises. She has authored monographs with Manchester University Press and Routledge, exploring the political economy of neo-jihadism, public criminology, and the intersection of global heating and the Australian far right.