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environmentalpol.bsky.social
Environmental Politics
@environmentalpol.bsky.social
7.2K followers 2.7K following 710 posts
Account for journal Environmental Politics.
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Website: https://environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/
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environmentalpol.bsky.social
New guest post!

Fighting against the fossil fuel industry while leading a life enabled by it by Sakari Säynäjoki and Otto Snellman.

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/guest-posts/...
December 4, 2025 at 7:29 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Climate populism: the limits of the ideational and discursive approaches by Luis Harrison.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT In this article I critique the ideational approach to climate populism, arguing that it fails to recognise the plurality of positions on the climate crisis amongst different populist movements. It inadequately distinguishes left from right populism and overlooks the populist right’s ongoing shift, particularly in Europe, away from climate change denialism and scepticism. This shortcoming arises from the core assumptions of the ideational approach: that populism involves a unified and homogenous people, and an inherent anti-science and anti-expert outlook. I argue that a discursive, pluralist account of populism can address these theoretical inadequacies and make sense of the variation in exclusionary climate populism where the ideational approach fails to. Finally, I assess the potential limits of this approach. In particular, an inability to extend its pluralism to the needs or demands of non-human beings and integrate them into the people of populism.
December 3, 2025 at 8:16 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New book review!

Green superpowers: China, the European Union, and the United States in the global energy transition
by Andrea Prontera.

Reviewed by Reinhilde Bouckaert.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
December 2, 2025 at 7:36 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
We're back, with loads of new publications to share!

First up, a new article.

Where to aim with multispecies climate justice? A critical realist account by Julian van Vugt, Adrienne de Ruiter & Christoph Henning.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
Climate justice has become a key concept in addressing normative challenges in climate change and related policies. However, most applications of the term have remained anthropocentric. The multispecies justice perspective seeks to remedy this anthropocentrism, through focusing on relationality between and among human and non-human actors in climate justice. We engage with three points where this perspective remains to be developed further: the scope of ‘subjects of justice’, the meaning of ‘justice’ and institutional applications of multispecies justice. We argue that the reliance in multispecies justice literature upon hybridist ontologies of nature and society hampers advancement in these three aspects. We, therefore, propose an alternative ontological foundation, based on critical realism, that can resolve these limitations in current approaches to multispecies justice, contributing to further development of the concept.
December 1, 2025 at 7:20 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
Farewell interview with departing editor @sherilynmacgregor.bsky.social!

In this interview, Sherilyn reflects on her time with EP, some highlights of her experience, and some advice for people who might wish to be a journal editor in future.

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/editorial-an...
Editor with Environmental Politics since 2020, Sherilyn MacGregor is now ending her tenure. In this interview she reflects on her time with EP, some highlights of her experience, and some advice for people who might wish to be a journal editor in future.
November 7, 2025 at 7:22 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New guest post!

Internal city climate leadership: Creating meaning from dilemmas by @madsleth.bsky.social, Helle Ørsted Nielsen, Oluf Gøtzsche-Astrup, and Daniel Skov Gregersen.

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/guest-posts/...
In this guest post, Mads Leth Jakobsen, Helle Ørsted Nielsen, Oluf Gøtzsche-Astrup, and Daniel Skov Gregersen discuss the research from their recently published article in Environmental Politics: Internal climate leadership in municipal organizations. How paradoxical and transformational leadership of higher-level management shape climate leadership of lower-level managers.
November 5, 2025 at 7:57 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New guest post!

Turning Climate Action into Economic Threat: The Far Right’s Moral Storytelling by @tillhilmar.bsky.social

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/guest-posts/...
In this guest post, Till Hilmar discusses the research from his recently published article in Environmental Politics: Cassandra from the far right: how the German and Austrian populist radical right links climate skepticism with economic issues. photo of author
November 4, 2025 at 7:27 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

“Another ocean is possible”: thinking ocean justice beyond mastery by Chris Armstrong and Antje Scharenberg.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
In recent years, scholars have employed the terms ‘marine justice’, ‘ocean justice,’ ‘oceanic justice,’ or ‘blue justice’ to indicate a distinctly oceanic dimension of global justice. However, at present, the term is used to refer to kindred yet different phenomena. In this article, we distinguish three influential approaches to ocean justice: (1) justice through the sea, (2) justice for the sea, and (3) justice at sea. Discussing these visions of ocean justice through the lens of critiques of colonial modernity, we argue that each still features traces of the logic of mastery. In response, we point to an alternative vision of ocean justice (justice from the sea), which decentres the masterful subject and offers an alternative vocabulary capable of reimagining issues of justice from below.
November 3, 2025 at 7:41 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
Week in review! Subscribe to our Substack for a short weekly round up.

This week we have published a new Issue, including the Symposium: Climate Policy in an Era of Disruption.

environmentalpoliticsjournal.substack.com/p/week-in-re...
October 31, 2025 at 7:37 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New issue!

Vol 34, Issue 7 out now, including Symposium: Climate Policy in an Era of Disruption

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/editorial-an...
October 29, 2025 at 7:16 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New guest post!

Climate policy opposition and the populist radical right, an interview with Håkon Grøn Sælen.

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/interviews/c...
In this interview, Håkon Grøn Sælen discusses the research and findings of his recent article in Environmental Politics, co-authored with Aaron M. McCright: What explains the relationship between populist radical right attitudes and opposition to climate policy?: structural vs. ideological factors. Congratulations on your recent article! What is the key message that you hope people take from this research? Thank you! We see more and more examples of populist radical right parties and politicians opposing climate policy. Previous work has found a correlation between populist radical right attitudes and climate policy opposition also among voters. Our work highlights the importance of nativist ideology for understanding this association.
October 21, 2025 at 7:02 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Partnerships of developmental pragmatism: greenwashing the BRI in Southeast Asia by Hui Feng & Stephen McCarthy.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT Beijing has responded to the environmental and transparency concerns of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by transforming it into a ‘green BRI’. This article examines the agency of the BRI host countries and develops a relational model of their partnership with China to explain the dynamics behind the greenwashing of the of the BRI. Such a partnership, which we term as developmental pragmatism, features utilitarian and transactional arrangements that are based on common developmental mindsets, mutual material interests, weak institutions and lack of external alternative funding. This partnership highlights an underlying problem in the international drive for decarbonisation that ignores a trade-off between economic affordability and environmental sustainability on the part of local developmentalism. These dynamics are demonstrated by examining efforts at environmental cooperation and the expansion of coal-fired power plants in Indonesia.
October 20, 2025 at 6:23 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
Expressions of interest for our Social Media Editor position will be reviewed from today. If you're planning on applying, please do so asap.

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/editorial-an...
Call for expressions of interest: Environmental Politics is seeking a Social Media Editor to join its editorial team. Environmental Politics is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal spanning the fields of political science, political sociology, and political theory. The journal provides a forum for the publication of original research into, and discussion and analysis of, the diverse theoretical and empirical aspects of environmental politics. The journal’s 2024 Impact Factor is 5.9, ranking 4/322 in Political Science and 29/191 in Environmental Studies.
October 15, 2025 at 7:04 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Fossil complacency: reorienting climate hypocrisy and system change debates, by Otto Snellman & Sakari Säynäjoki.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT Discourse on hypocrisy is plentiful in the climate politics of the Global North. A specific form of climate hypocrisy critique, the fossil hypocrisy charge, contends that climate activists’ demands for system change and phaseout of fossil fuels are hypocritical because their everyday living is thoroughly based on fossil fuels. The individualistic fossil hypocrisy charge, wielded by climate obstructionists, has been refuted in research. However, a fundamental kernel of truth underlying the charge, and the broader obstructionist ‘narrative of necessity’ of fossil fuels, remains unresolved: Contemporary life is constitutively entangled with fossil fuels. While avoiding individual hypocrisy, we show how researchers and climate advocates might remain subject to an adjacent problem, fossil complacency, if they disregard the kernel in their agendas of system change. By drawing from interdisciplinary energy research, we show how critique of fossil complacency helps in reorienting climate hypocrisy and system change debates to overcome obstructionist ‘climate realism’.
October 14, 2025 at 6:40 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Climate action versus environmental protection? How far-right and environmentalist messengers shape public attitudes towards renewable energy infrastructure in forests, by @manesweisskircher.bsky.social and Matthias Diermeier.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT This article examines how political messengers, and not the message, influence attitudes toward renewable energy infrastructure amid an increasingly polarized climate change debate. Focusing on wind power, a highly politicized issue, and solar energy, less contentious, we conducted an experimental survey in Germany. We assess how either a far-right or an environmentalist critic affect acceptance of renewables. Importantly, our analysis examines support for renewables in forest areas, focusing on a conflict between climate action and local environmental protection. Our findings reveal that the messenger impacts attitudes regarding wind energy. Criticism of wind turbine expansion by an environmentalist actor leads to greater rejection, while a similar critique by a far-right actor results in increased acceptance, i.e. a backlash effect. No such influence was found for solar energy. We explain these diverging findings by differences in politicization. Our findings have important consequences for understanding key dynamics of the public debate and political conflict over climate action.
October 9, 2025 at 6:26 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Cassandra from the far right: how the German and Austrian populist radical right links climate skepticism with economic issues by Till Hilmar / @tillhilmar.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT This article asks how two populist radical right parties, the German AfD and the Austrian FPÖ, communicate about climate on Twitter/X. Analyzing a corpus of 6,254 tweets, it pays special attention to a relatively underresearched aspect of climate communication by these actors: the way they reference the economy – in what I call ‘economic signification’ – in their discourse on climate. I distinguish four narratives promoted by them, climate policies threaten the economy as a whole; they unfairly burden specific ‘deserving’ groups; climate actors pursue hidden economic agendas; and they act on misguided assumptions and lack economic competence. By combining response and process skepticism, these narratives refract a broader vision of social order, allowing these parties to present themselves as a ‘voice of reason’ in the climate debate. Economic signification allows the far right to speak in the ‘realist’, warning mode, decrying the alleged economic ‘irrationality’ of mainstream parties.
October 8, 2025 at 6:22 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
A turning point in global biodiversity governance?

New Brief Report from @frabitz.bsky.social, @simonbeaudoin.bsky.social, Theresa Jedd, Ina Lehmann, Christian Prip, Guilherme de Queiroz-Stein & @etsioumani.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT In the context of an intensifying global biodiversity crisis, we provide a critical assessment of political and institutional developments in global biodiversity governance between 2022 and 2025. We note that in this period, global biodiversity governance is generating sustained political momentum and institutional innovation consistent with transformative types of change that are needed to mitigate biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. We conclude that recent developments in global biodiversity governance contrast markedly with developments in other areas of global environmental governance, and that the adoption of the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework has likely acted as a catalyst for increased ambition and institutional innovation.
October 7, 2025 at 6:03 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Exploring the politics of degrowth – first evidence from two cases of repair policies in Austria and Sweden by @janpollex.bsky.social & Lars E. Berker.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT Amid escalating ecological crises and the limited effects of previous green growth approaches, degrowth has gained increasing attention, with researchers and activists debating various policies. However, implementation of such policies remains rare, as does research on these few examples. This highlights the need to examine the politics underlying such attempts to promote degrowth. This article explores national repair policies in Austria and Sweden as most likely cases of existing degrowth policies. It makes two key contributions. First, it applies the Advocacy Coalition Framework, using a classic policy analysis perspective to study degrowth policies. Second, it provides one of the first analyses of political dynamics in this context, identifying pragmatic degrowth coalitions that leverage diverse interpretations of repair policies to enable their implementation. This study discusses how incremental policy changes, driven by coalition-building efforts, can advance transformative policies, offering insights into the political processes required for implementing degrowth-oriented approaches.
October 6, 2025 at 6:32 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Acts of energy citizenship in community solar gardens by Judita Hudson, @kurtiveson.bsky.social & Sophie Webber.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT Characterised as sites of energy citizenship, community energy projects help people locked out of the corporate green energy and rooftop solar markets to participate in the renewable energy transition. However, the environmental politics of community energy projects cannot be assumed. Drawing from document analysis and semi-structured interviews with community energy organisers, advocates and participants, we compare two projects in New South Wales, Australia. We show that community energy projects accommodate different forms of energy citizenship, with implications for their ability to address existing exclusions and injustices of a market-led energy transition. We demonstrate that community energy projects have struggled to enhance low-income households’ access to renewable energy while simultaneously facilitating democratic participation in energy governance. In identifying the challenges that these projects have faced, we contribute to debates about how community energy projects can realise a just transition to renewable energy.
October 2, 2025 at 6:26 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New book review!

The Care Economy by Tim Jackson. Reviewed by Peter C. Grosvenor.

The book argues that prosperity should be defined in terms of health rather than wealth, and that care should replace growth as the objective of economic activity...

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
October 1, 2025 at 6:29 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

Influencing climate change adaptation in authoritarian states: a deliberative systems analysis in Vietnam by @wendyconwaylamb.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT Involving those most affected by climate change in adaptation governance is crucial for procedural justice, legitimacy, and effectiveness. Empirical evidence indicates that democracies tend to perform better on climate change than authoritarian states. However, many highly climate-vulnerable countries lack key hallmarks of democracy, such as free and fair elections, while transitions to electoral democracy are hard to predict and difficult to foster. This article applies deliberative systems analysis to support a more nuanced understanding of climate politics and the diverse ways implicated groups influence decision-making in authoritarian states. Drawing on interviews with government officials, civil society, and international development practitioners involved in adaptation in Vietnam, three forms of influence are identified: coercive, persuasive, and deliberative. Despite hierarchical structures, the research reveals distinct dynamics of deliberative influence and reflects on the implications for non-governmental and international organizations seeking to use climate finance to support inclusive and accountable adaptation in climate-vulnerable countries.
September 30, 2025 at 6:20 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
Call for expressions of interest: We are seeking a Social Media Editor to join our editorial team.

Responsibilities for this position include:

- Running social media & website
- Circulating all publications
- Arranging & editing guest posts

environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/editorial-an...
Environmental Politics is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal spanning the fields of political science, political sociology, and political theory. The journal provides a forum for the publication of original research into, and discussion and analysis of, the diverse theoretical and empirical aspects of environmental politics. The journal’s 2024 Impact Factor is 5.9, ranking 4/322 in Political Science and 29/191 in Environmental Studies. The journal is recruiting a Social Media Editor to manage its external communications. Responsibilities for this position include: Managing social media accounts (currently Bluesky, X, Substack) and the journal website Posting and circulating all journal and website publications Arranging and editing guest posts and interviews with authors We welcome expressions of interest from scholars of environmental politics from any higher education institution. We strongly encourage applications from early career individuals, including advanced PhD students and post-doctoral fellows, and we would specifically welcome applications from historically underrepresented groups and those whose intersectional identities and perspectives position them to support the editorial team’s commitment to an inclusive conception of environmental politics scholarship. The journal’s Aims and Scope, and the current membership of the editorial team and Editorial Advisory Board, are available at: tandfonline.com/fenp The Social Media Editor position comes with a modest stipend. Please send expressions of interest (no more than 2 pages), along with a brief CV, to David Konisky, Editor-in-Chief, (dkonisky@iu.edu). Reviews will begin October 15, 2025, and applications will be considered until the position is filled.
September 29, 2025 at 6:37 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
Week in review! Subscribe to our Substack for a short weekly round up.

This week we have published two new articles, a book review, and a guest post.

open.substack.com/pub/environm...
September 26, 2025 at 6:30 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article!

‘Two hands, multiple fingerprints’: how ideology and politics shaped China’s water market reforms (1998–2021) by Jesper Svensson, Yahua Wang, Sicheng Chen, Dustin Garrick & Hang Zheng.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT Water markets in China have received ample scholarly attention, but less is known about the political, ideological, and international influences that shaped their evolution. Using institutional analysis and a power-centered approach, we trace three Australian-funded projects (2005–2019) alongside domestic policy shifts to analyze how market ideas were institutionalized. We show how policy entrepreneurs embedded water trading within China’s governance system by drawing on ideological principles—including politics at the centre, ideological pragmatism, and economic decentralization—to bind market instruments to Party legitimacy. We also examine variation across pilot sites, showing how China’s water markets evolved through distinct institutional pathways—from collective trading among Water User Associations in Gansu to corporate purchases in Inner Mongolia. These findings contribute to debates on state – market relations, ideational power, and institutional change in one-party states, while also opening new research avenues on group-level property rights and community-based environmental markets in China and beyond.
September 25, 2025 at 6:20 AM
environmentalpol.bsky.social
New article from @stefcraps.com!

Ecological apologies: reckoning with grief, guilt, and multispecies justice.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...
ABSTRACT Focusing on British artist Marcus Coates’s Apology to the Great Auk, a short film documenting an official apology to an extinct bird, this article explores the possibility and desirability of political apologies for anthropogenic species extinction. While the apology presented in the film fails to meet key criteria, it nonetheless offers something of political value. Coates’s work constitutes an audacious and innovative attempt to leverage ecological grief and guilt to counteract dominant discourses that devalue more-than-human life; to redraw the boundaries of the moral, legal, and political community; and to imagine a future of multispecies flourishing. By interpreting Apology to the Great Auk through the lenses of environmental transitional justice, bad environmentalism, and ecological prefiguration, the article demonstrates its potential as an artistic project, and the potential of ecological apologies more generally, to help us think and work towards care, justice, and moral repair beyond the human.
September 24, 2025 at 6:27 AM