Issues related to anthropogenic climate change such as global warming, fossil fuel
emissions, and renewable energy have emerged as some of the most important and
pertinent political questions today. While the role of the state in the Anthropocene has been
explored in academia, there is a severe dearth of research on the relationship between
climate change and nationalism, especially at the sub-state level. This paper builds on the
concept of “green nationalism” among sub-state nationalist parties in European minority
nations. Using a multimodal analysis of selected European Free Alliance (EFA) campaign
posters from the past 30 years, the article explores an extensive “frame bridging” where
minority nationalist political actors actively seek to link environmental issues to autonomy.
Although there is an apparent continuity in minority nationalist support for green policies,
earlier initiatives focused on preservation of local territory while EFA parties today frame
climate change as a global challenge that requires local solutions, which only they can
provide. The frame bridging between territorial belonging and progressive politics has lead
to the emergence of an environmentally focused, minority nationalist agenda that
advocates for autonomy in order to enact more ambitious green policies, or “green
nationalism”. This shows that nationalism in the right ideological environment can be a
foundation for climate action, as minority nationalist actors base their environmentally
focused agenda to address the global climate crisis precisely on their nationalist ideology.