Web 2.0 technologies (‘social media’) facilitate new forms of mobilization initiatives, thereby producing ‘snowball effects’ that may affect the course of political decision-making. This paper addresses developments in Dutch climate change politics after two ‘triggering events’: the hack of emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in November 2009 and the publicity on mistakes in the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report in January 2010. These events brought about a ‘strategic surprise’ for Dutch politicians and policymakers, and resulted in doubts about the established relation between climate policy and scientific knowledge. Fierce discussions ensued on online forums of newspapers and independent weblogs. Two scientific journalists initiated the weblog Climategate.nl, one of the first skeptical climate weblogs in Dutch language. One of its aims is “to provide a platform for a respectful and fruitful discussion”. The events were indicative for the policymakers’ (lack of) attention to the role of weblogs in the public debate on climate change as well as their disregard of sceptical criticism. One innovation was the introduction of ‘web monitoring’ within the Department of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. One other development involved invitations directed to climate sceptics, in particular Climategate.nl, to attend sessions organized by this department and the Dutch Parliament. In this way, Climategate.nl came to represent the ‘sceptical voice’ in these gatherings. The paper focuses on how the events were framed by policymakers and politicians as well as on their subsequent reactions, especially with regard to the mobilization initiatives in the online domain. A theoretical framework is used, in which notions on digitally enabled functions of ‘civil society’ and ‘public sphere’ are combined with insights in the Dutch political culture and political opportunity structure. The research is based on interviews with policymakers and editors of Climategate.nl, on analysis of documents and blog posts.
