Climate change is a hoax, they say Why climate sceptics succeed in denying anthropogenic climate change and influencing climate policy, in the United States and in the Netherlands

Abstract

This thesis investigates the causes for a lack of affirmative climate policy and implementation tackling and mitigating climate change and its effects by focusing on the lobbying efforts and successes of climate sceptic movements. In the US, Oreskes & Conway have proven scientists have deliberately spread doubt about the scientific consensus concerning anthropogenic climate change whilst being funded by the fossil fuel industry. This selling doubt strategy resulted in lobbying success as climate policy was pushed off the agenda. As climate policy and implementation is lacking in other nation-states as well, this research conducts a comparative historical analysis using the US and the Netherlands as a case study to analyse the lobbying successes of climate sceptic movements. It finds climate sceptics have been successful in both cases in the same way despite their organizational differences. A formula of success is formulated: If the institutional context (A) is favourable, together with a favourable media coverage and overall societal climate (B), and a strategy put forward by the lobbying group which causes doubt (C), success for climate scepticism is inevitable. In this way, (B) may influence the favourability of (A).