From Infamous Denial to Mundane Obstruction: Varieties of Sabotage in Climate Change Policy Making in Europe

The political strategy of climate change denial is well known. Primarily orchestrated by think tanks, fossil industries and other lobbies have been successful to undermine constructive policy making in the United States and elsewhere. But policy actors have also pursued a number of other strategies in opposition to precautionary climate change related policy making. Taking Bond’s 2016 typology of elite responses to climate change as a starting point, in this paper we look at the history of German energy transition (Energiewende) from fossil fuels to renewables with a particular focus on the role of academic and partisan think tanks involved in undermining what had originally been a quite ambitious and comprehensive transition program. A range of academic and partisan think tanks not invested in climate change denial have advanced strategies in opposition to Germany’s ambitious renewable energy agenda. Fed by neoliberal concepts of market conformity, cost and efficiency concerns, both academic and partisan think tank researchers have supplied studies and arguments to undermine secure production conditions for the whole range of renewable energies (wind, solar, biomass) provided by feed-in-tariff mechanism. Counter proposals include alternative policy instrument allegedly better suited to pursue ecological transformation. Unlike straightforward denial and infamous post-truth strategies, policy actors employ what Linsey McGoey has termed strategic ignorance. Like with denial strategies, the academic and public discussion needs to go beyond epistemological turf and focus on the political choice involved in selecting knowledge mobilized in the policy debate.