Climate change communication in a time of populism.

Over the last decades, the rise of the far right and populist movements in Europe and its resulting impact on liberal democracies and party politics have been subject to a vivid debate among researchers. In addition, researches, the public and politics intensively discussed the current environmental crisis (air and water pollution, climate change, etc.). While both subjects have been analyzed on their own, this study focuses on their nexus. Existing research highlights that many right-wing populist parties (RWPs) show in one way or another denial towards (anthropogenic) climate change. To understand this denial and its possible impact on climate change mitigation, I analyze how RWPs of Germany, Spain, and Austria frame the issue of climate change in their communication. Secondly, research agrees that in particular the mainstream parties (mostly the big parties left and right of the political center) influence the public and therefore it is central to understand possible (inter)relations of RWPs and mainstream parties in the climate change discourse. Thus, the second part of this research project concentrated on the development of the concept of climate change in the communication of mainstream parties. In a first step, drawing on the methodological apparatus of the discourse-historical approach in critical discourse studies, I study how, when and in which context RWPs use the climate change discourse. In a second step, in the light of the literature on party competition and applying a discourse conceptual analysis, I examine possible correlations of a climate change-skeptical communication of RWPs and a possible change of the climate change discourse of established parties right and left of the political center. This analysis will center on the development of discourses in the context of climate issues over a longer period of time. Specifically, I will compare various documents (social media posts, press releases, parliamentary debates, policy documents) over time to study climate change discourses of various political parties in three European countries. The focus lies on the communication towards the public, thus on their Facebook and Twitter posts, as well as on their press releases or party outlets. The time span of the analysis ranges between 2016 and 2020, after RWPs gained power in various EU member states and the issue of climate change has become very salient in European media and politics. Results show that the national relevant RWPs increase their social media communication on climate change when its salience in society increases. Moreover, RWPs typically deny anthropogenic climate change and expresses concern about climate protection policies. Furthermore, the analysis reveals whether established parties show a discourse shift in their communication and their framing of climate change after RWPs take up the issue and express denial towards climate change and corresponding policies. This research project shows how important it is to investigate certain actors and their communication towards the public as well as to understand the processes and possible relations behind them to comprehend and influence policy framing and decision-making processes.