This paper examines Greece’s capacity for ecological modernization (EM) in the context of the global crisis. Without disregarding the general systemic parameters behind the crisis, this paper argues that Greece could have still faced limitations and impediments to modernise ecologically without the global economic crisis. This argument is built upon the following: 1) It supports the view that Papandreou’s PASOK came to office with a serious plan for green growth investment and ecological sustainability; 2) A number of policies directly linked to this ambition were challenged from the outset within PASOK and parts of the protest milieu that had extensively mobilised under the preceding ND administration; the belated official acceptance that Greece is affected by the global crisis in 2010 was accompanied by an unstoppable wave of continuous uncertainty, devastating for the Greek public austerity measures and taxation, the complete transformation of the dominant party politics frame, civil contestation and an immense increase in unemployment among some other. In this context, the aforementioned green vision received a serious blow. The whole story of ambitious proclamations and fall of what could be seen as first serious attempt to lay down the foundations a capacity for EM in Greece would be recounted in this paper through the examination of six (6) selected EM indicators. It concludes by arguing that rather than attributing blame to the economic crisis for Greece’s failure to modernise ecologically, it is more appropriate to blame its perennial failure to escape the dominant claws of characteristics that are not conducive to the modernizing process.
