Every product has a life cycle that begins with the extraction of resources from nature and ends with the return of its remnants to nature. Whether a product was produced in an ecologically viable and socially just manner can only be judged based on its entire life cycle. For example, wind turbines, solar systems and electric cars require increasing amounts of minerals, causing greater destruction of nature, promoting local and global social inequalities, and creating new forms of geopolitical competition and power relations. This makes green growth a questionable idea. These are the points of departure from which the authors develop four criteria for an effective socio-ecological trade union policy.