Climate action obstruction in the Spanish far right: The Vox's amendment to the Climate Change Law and its press representation

Jose A. Moreno; Gina Thornton

doi:10.12795/Ambitos.2022.i55.02

Authors

Jose A. Moreno Universitat Pompeu Fabra https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3781-5644
Gina Thornton Independent researcher https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8333-908X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12795/Ambitos.2022.i55.02

Keywords:

climate change, climate crisis, obstructionism, denialism, climate countermovement

Abstract

While we live in a crucial time when climate science urges us to take strong action to mitigate climate change, there is a countermovement obstructing the adoption of climate policies. In Europe, there are far right parties that have aligned their positions with the climate countermovement. This research seeks to examine the climate change discourse of the Spanish far-right party Vox, as well as the press reception of the party's ideas on the subject. This paper analyses the amendment to the whole Law Project on Climate Change and Energetic Transition (121/00019) presented by Vox on June 17, 2020, at the Spanish Parliament. The study consists of an examination of the climate action contrarian framings following the typology of Almiron et al. (2020). This enquiry is followed by a critical discourse analysis of the coverage of this amendment in the Spanish press. This press analysis provides an insight into whether journalists received Vox's proposal critically and aligned themselves with the scientific consensus, whether they reported it in a neutral way, or whether they supported its ideas. The results include a replication of hackneyed climate change denialist arguments as disseminated by European and North American climate action contrarian stakeholders. This paper also identifies a critical reaction from the Spanish press to this Vox amendment, despite the existence of some texts that report neutrally on the proposal.

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