As the science of climate change becomes irrefutable, alongside the increased recognition of a range of other environmental threats, the discourse around a ‘just transition’ to a post-carbon future has increased in intensity. The dominant discourse, however, has taken the form of a green capitalism that says little about the social dimensions of ‘fossil’ capitalism, including rising inequality (both between and within countries) and a deep appreciation of patriarchy. Thinking and practice around eco socialism and feminism has come from groups outside the dominant paradigms. They draw on growing struggles and bodies of thought throughout the world, that grapple with the ravages of ‘fossil’ capitalism, colonial dispossession and patriarchy. New thinking has emerged around happiness and wellbeing, degrowth, a Green New Deal and ecosocialism, and how to pursue a counter-hegemonic politics within the context of the established nation-state. In recent years, a bold rupture with capitalist-patriarchy has occurred in northern Syria, where the Kurdish people of Rojava (alongside a diverse range of ethnic and religious groups) are leading a women’s revolution founded on the principles of social ecology and a new democratic civilisation. These radical alternatives pose a challenge to hegemonic thinking that permeates the SDGs, and places firmly on the agenda the possibilities of forging a counter-hegemonic ecosocialist politics.