Climate Obstruction in the United Kingdom: Charting the Resistance to Climate Action

This chapter provides an account of climate obstruction in the UK by exploring its sources in the material, institutional, and discursive power wielded by incumbent interests, particularly business and media actors. It traces the emergence of the climate change issue in UK political and popular discourse from the late 1980s to the present. The chapter describes responses from the business community (including the Confederation of British Industry and leading fossil fuel companies), trade unions, think tanks, and government institutions such as the the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department (now Department for Energy Secuity and Net Zero), as well as leading right-wing news media. It then explores the role of climate sceptic organizations such as the Global Warming Policy Foundation in discursive obstruction. The analysis ends with a discussion of competing framings of the predominant ‘net zero’ emissions reduction strategy before suggesting ways to counter climate obstructionism in the future.