Green parties in the context of Green (politics)

Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. It began taking shape in the Western world in the 1970s; since then, green parties have developed and established themselves in many countries around the globe and have achieved some electoral success.

The political term green was used initially in relation to die Grünen (German for "the Greens"), a green party formed in the late 1970s. The term political ecology is sometimes used in academic circles, but it has come to represent an interdisciplinary field of study as the academic discipline offers wide-ranging studies integrating ecological social sciences with political economy in topics such as degradation and marginalization, environmental conflict, conservation and control and environmental identities and social movements.

The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a left-wing green Australian political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third-largest political party in Australia by vote and the fourth-largest by elected representation. Following the 2025 Australian federal election, Larissa Waters serves as Leader of the Greens and Mehreen Faruqi serves as deputy leader.

The party was formed in 1992 as a confederation of eight state and territorial parties. In their early years, the party was largely built around the personality of well-known Tasmanian politician Bob Brown, before expanding its representation substantially in the early part of the 21st century. The party cites four core values as its ideology, namely ecological sustainability, social justice, grassroots democracy, and peace and non-violence. The party's origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia, the Franklin Dam controversy, the Green bans, and the nuclear disarmament movement. The party began with the United Tasmania Group, one of the first green parties in the world.