Environmental Politics

Week in review! Subscribe to our Substack for a short weekly round up.

This week we have published two new research articles.

open.substack.com/pub/environm...

Reminder: Our Special Issue and Symposia proposal deadline is this Friday, 1st August!

Details: environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/editorial-an...

This article analyses the electoral impact of carbon taxation in Canada. It shows that carbon-intensive constituencies that suffered economic hardship are the most likely to punish the incumbent presiding over the implementation of carbon pricing.

ABSTRACT This article investigates the electoral consequences of carbon taxation in Canada. Leveraging a difference-in-differences design with entropy balancing, I estimate how the 2019 implementation of nationwide carbon pricing affected support for the incumbent Liberal Party. The analysis focuses on two dimensions of exposure to decarbonization: realized job loss in carbon-intensive sectors (NAICS-21) and structural economic dependence on high-emission employment. Results indicate that the Liberal vote share declined by 2.7 to 4.6 percentage points in constituencies experiencing carbon-intensive job losses. The effect is amplified in areas with greater reliance on polluting industries and higher job-related emissions. Robustness checks using Canadian Election Study data and an instrumental variable approach corroborate the findings. Overall, the results suggest that carbon pricing can provoke localized political backlash in economically vulnerable communities. The study contributes to broader debates on the distributive politics of climate policy and the electoral risks confronting pro-environmental incumbents.

New article!

Fueling discontent: the politics of carbon taxation in Canada by Florent Pepin-Proulx.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Reminder: Our Special Issue and Symposia proposal deadline is this Friday, 1st August!

Details: environmentalpoliticsjournal.net/editorial-an...

This article analyses the electoral impact of carbon taxation in Canada. It shows that carbon-intensive constituencies that suffered economic hardship are the most likely to punish the incumbent presiding over the implementation of carbon pricing.

ABSTRACT This article investigates the electoral consequences of carbon taxation in Canada. Leveraging a difference-in-differences design with entropy balancing, I estimate how the 2019 implementation of nationwide carbon pricing affected support for the incumbent Liberal Party. The analysis focuses on two dimensions of exposure to decarbonization: realized job loss in carbon-intensive sectors (NAICS-21) and structural economic dependence on high-emission employment. Results indicate that the Liberal vote share declined by 2.7 to 4.6 percentage points in constituencies experiencing carbon-intensive job losses. The effect is amplified in areas with greater reliance on polluting industries and higher job-related emissions. Robustness checks using Canadian Election Study data and an instrumental variable approach corroborate the findings. Overall, the results suggest that carbon pricing can provoke localized political backlash in economically vulnerable communities. The study contributes to broader debates on the distributive politics of climate policy and the electoral risks confronting pro-environmental incumbents.

New article!

Fueling discontent: the politics of carbon taxation in Canada by Florent Pepin-Proulx.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

This article shows that politicians on both the right and left use nationalism to frame the climate change debate in the US. Nationalism shapes how both Republican and Democratic candidates discuss climate change, driving polarization over the policy issue and response.

ABSTRACT This article explores how American politicians – on both the right and left – use nationalist rhetoric to frame climate change. We undertake a contextual content analysis of all speeches by Republican and Democratic presidential nominees during the 2016 and 2020 elections. We show that nationalism was among the most prominent frames for these nominees when referring to climate change, whether they supported positions that were ‘skeptical’ (ie Donald Trump) or ‘activist’ (ie Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden). Nationalism was so prevalent that it structured the terms of the climate change debate, with the candidates dividing over which position was better suited to strengthen the identity and power of the American nation. Embedding the climate change debate in a struggle over American nationhood is indicative of a wider, problematic process of ‘nationalist polarization,’ where elites draw from competing conceptions of the nation’s identity to drive polarization over a policy problem.

New article!

How nationalist rhetoric drives polarization over climate change in the US, by Robert Schertzer & Eric Taylor Woods.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Good to have empirical data on this. And it shows that electorates in democracies expect issues of national (and not diffuse global) import be of primary concern in addressing policy issues (as the in international system is comprised of sovereign nation states).

This article shows that politicians on both the right and left use nationalism to frame the climate change debate in the US. Nationalism shapes how both Republican and Democratic candidates discuss climate change, driving polarization over the policy issue and response.

ABSTRACT This article explores how American politicians – on both the right and left – use nationalist rhetoric to frame climate change. We undertake a contextual content analysis of all speeches by Republican and Democratic presidential nominees during the 2016 and 2020 elections. We show that nationalism was among the most prominent frames for these nominees when referring to climate change, whether they supported positions that were ‘skeptical’ (ie Donald Trump) or ‘activist’ (ie Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden). Nationalism was so prevalent that it structured the terms of the climate change debate, with the candidates dividing over which position was better suited to strengthen the identity and power of the American nation. Embedding the climate change debate in a struggle over American nationhood is indicative of a wider, problematic process of ‘nationalist polarization,’ where elites draw from competing conceptions of the nation’s identity to drive polarization over a policy problem.

New article!

How nationalist rhetoric drives polarization over climate change in the US, by Robert Schertzer & Eric Taylor Woods.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

ace to see that Carl Death's new book African Climate Futures is now out. It's a spectacularly good intervention I think. global.oup.com/academic/pro... @uompols.bsky.social @bisa-ecpwg.bsky.social @stripple.bsky.social

Week in review! Subscribe to our Substack for a short weekly round up.

This week we have published two new research articles.

open.substack.com/pub/environm...

Cover for African Climate Futures, Oxford University Press

New blog!

Can we imagine what a future climate-changed world will be like? Dr Carl Death discusses climate fiction in the context of his new book: African Climate Futures.

@mybisa.bsky.social @uompols.bsky.social @fromagehomme.bsky.social ‪

www.bisa.ac.uk/articles/can...

Week in review! Subscribe to our Substack for a short weekly round up.

This week we have published two new research articles.

open.substack.com/pub/environm...

New paper on harms-based political ecology - Beastly Business Our team members Alison Hutchinson, Rosaleen Duffy, George Iordachescu and Teresa Lappe-Osthege developed an idea of bringing together debates on harms from green criminology with political ecology co...

1/ 📄New paper! Alison Hutchinson @georgeiorda.bsky.social Teresa Lappe-Osthege & myself have developed a new harms-based #PoliticalEcology as a way of understanding the #WildlifeTrade published in @jpoliticalecology.bsky.social ⬇️
beastlybusiness.org/2025/07/23/n...

We are delighted to announce Prof Matthew Paterson as our keynote provocateur! 🤩🌊🌏
Info & registration 👇🏼 lnkd.in/dXQBhgYw #climatejustice #sustainability #politics #biodiversity @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @mybisa.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk #climatejustice #biodiversity #politics

New date for our workshop! Wednesday, 17 September @ @manchester.ac.uk! Send us your abstracts by 1 August 🤩🥳🌏✊🏼👇🏼 #climatejustice @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

⏰A reminder - just over a week left to propose panels for #POLLEN26. All the info you need is here 👇

Natural disasters influence environmental communication from members of the U.S. Congress! In the wake of these events, members talk more about climate related issues, but such effects vary greatly depending on the partisan and electoral landscape.

ABSTRACT How do natural disasters affect elite policymaker communication about environmental issues? Natural disasters are highly salient events that capture individuals’ attention. As a result, policymakers may increase communication on environmental topics in order to better align with constituent or ideological concerns. Using a novel data set of 88,211 tweets from U.S. Congress members, I find that the occurrence of natural disasters in a policymaker’s constituency leads to increased environmental messaging, particularly among Democrats and representatives of Democratic-leaning areas. The effect is strongest in electorally safe districts, regardless of party. Overall, natural disasters induce greater environmental communication from policymakers, but such effects vary greatly depending on the partisan landscape. This work has important implications for ongoing political gridlock and partisanship that hinders meaningful climate and environmental policy

New article!

Policymaker environmental communication in the wake of natural disasters, by Katie Nissen.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Early-Career Environment and Climate Politics Paper Prize- Environment and Climate Politics | BISA - Environment and Climate Politics Working Group

Early Career Paper Prize - deadline approaching!

- Did you present a paper on one of our panels at #BISA2025?

- Are you a PhD student or within three years of graduating?

- Can you write a draft paper by 16th August?

Nominate yourself!

Details:

www.bisa.ac.uk/news/early-c...

Natural disasters influence environmental communication from members of the U.S. Congress! In the wake of these events, members talk more about climate related issues, but such effects vary greatly depending on the partisan and electoral landscape.

ABSTRACT How do natural disasters affect elite policymaker communication about environmental issues? Natural disasters are highly salient events that capture individuals’ attention. As a result, policymakers may increase communication on environmental topics in order to better align with constituent or ideological concerns. Using a novel data set of 88,211 tweets from U.S. Congress members, I find that the occurrence of natural disasters in a policymaker’s constituency leads to increased environmental messaging, particularly among Democrats and representatives of Democratic-leaning areas. The effect is strongest in electorally safe districts, regardless of party. Overall, natural disasters induce greater environmental communication from policymakers, but such effects vary greatly depending on the partisan landscape. This work has important implications for ongoing political gridlock and partisanship that hinders meaningful climate and environmental policy

New article!

Policymaker environmental communication in the wake of natural disasters, by Katie Nissen.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Ecofascist hate is an environmental emotion, related to Malthusian environmentalism that similarly blames overpopulation for environmental and climate problems, albeit with far less violent “solutions.”

ABSTRACT Ecofascists’ environmentalism is primarily built around hatred. It builds on long-standing politics that conceive of population issues as the primary environmental problem. Using population replacement arguments about the threat of growing Black, immigrant, and Muslim populations, eco-fascists argue that immigrants are a threat to the environment, habitat, and home for white people of European descent. Building on a comparative analysis of majority-minority (MM) news narratives and Great Replacement (GR) rhetoric in three eco-fascist screeds, we argue that 1) MM discourse lends false legitimacy to GR assertions about population change and bolsters demographic anxieties, and 2) far-right shooters environmentalise by articulating a form of fascist solastalgia that is environmentally grounded. This article contributes to analyses of eco-emotions by foregrounding eco-hate and the role of contemporary population politics in current environmental anxieties.

New article from Rajani Bhatia and Anne Hendrixson!

Kindling green hate through eco- and demographic anxiety.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Ecofascist hate is an environmental emotion, related to Malthusian environmentalism that similarly blames overpopulation for environmental and climate problems, albeit with far less violent “solutions.”

ABSTRACT Ecofascists’ environmentalism is primarily built around hatred. It builds on long-standing politics that conceive of population issues as the primary environmental problem. Using population replacement arguments about the threat of growing Black, immigrant, and Muslim populations, eco-fascists argue that immigrants are a threat to the environment, habitat, and home for white people of European descent. Building on a comparative analysis of majority-minority (MM) news narratives and Great Replacement (GR) rhetoric in three eco-fascist screeds, we argue that 1) MM discourse lends false legitimacy to GR assertions about population change and bolsters demographic anxieties, and 2) far-right shooters environmentalise by articulating a form of fascist solastalgia that is environmentally grounded. This article contributes to analyses of eco-emotions by foregrounding eco-hate and the role of contemporary population politics in current environmental anxieties.

New article from Rajani Bhatia and Anne Hendrixson!

Kindling green hate through eco- and demographic anxiety.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Week in review! Subscribe to our Substack for a short weekly round up.

This week we have published two new research articles, a guest post, and extended our Special Issue proposal deadline.

environmentalpoliticsjournal.substack.com/p/week-in-re...