The Impact of the Far Right on Climate Action? The Role of Centre-Right Parties and the Political Conflict Over Wind Power

This study analyses the impact of the far right beyond its core issue of immigration, focusing on climate obstruction. Despite Germany's strong cordon sanitaire, the AfD played a pivotal role in passing a law effectively banning wind power in forests in its stronghold of Thuringia. Examining this critical case, our study makes three key contributions: First, we highlight the role of mainstream centre-right parties in facilitating climate obstruction. Already before the AfD’s rise, regional CDU and FDP branches were sceptical of wind power, and their later legislative actions proved crucial. Second, we examine the central arguments in the conflict, including forest protection, climate-related, and economic issues. Third, we show how opposition to wind power in forests enabled joint voting between the mainstream right and the far right, to some extent contributing to far-right normalization. Methodologically, we analyse media coverage, party manifestos, and parliamentary speeches, and build on calls to focus on subnational politics.