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Climate action obstruction in the Spanish far right: The Vox's
amendment to the Climate Change Law and its press representation
Obstrucción de la acción climática en la extrema derecha española: La
enmienda de Vox a la Ley de Cambio Climático y su representación en
prensa
Jose A. Moreno
Universitat Pompeu Fabra | Roc Boronat, 138, 08018 Barcelona | Spain |
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3781-5644 | joseantonio.moreno@upf.edu
Gina Thornton
Independent researcher | Roc Boronat, 138, 08018 Barcelona | Spain |
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8333-908X | gina.thorn8@gmail.com
Dates | Submitted: 30/09/2021 | Accepted: 14/12/2021
Abstract
While we live in a crucial time when climate
science urges us to take strong action to
mitigate climate change, there is a
countermovement obstructing the adoption of
climate policies. In Europe, there are far right
parties that have aligned their positions with
the climate countermovement. This research
seeks to examine the climate change discourse
of the Spanish far-right party Vox, as well as
the press reception of the party's ideas on the
subject. This paper analyses the amendment to
the whole Law Project on Climate Change and
Energetic Transition (121/00019) presented by
Vox on June 17, 2020,
at the Spanish
Parliament. The study consists of an
examination of the climate action contrarian
framings following the typology of Almiron et
al. (2020). This enquiry is followed by a critical
discourse analysis of the coverage of this
amendment in the Spanish press. This press
analysis provides an insight into whether
journalists received Vox's proposal critically
and aligned themselves with the scientific
Resumen
Aunque vivimos un momento crucial en el que la
ciencia del clima nos insta
a tomar medidas
contundentes para mitigar el cambio climático,
existe un contramovimiento que obstaculiza la
adopción de políticas climáticas. En Europa, hay
partidos de extrema derecha que se han
alineado con el contramovimiento climático.
Esta investiga
ción pretende examinar el
discurso sobre el cambio climático del partido
de extrema derecha español Vox, así como la
recepción en la prensa de las ideas del partido
sobre el tema. Este trabajo analiza la enmienda
a la totalidad del Proyecto de Ley de Cambio
Climático y Transición Energética (121/00019)
presentada por Vox el 17 de junio de 2020 en el
Parlamento español. El estudio consiste en un
examen de los encuadres contrarios a la acción
climática siguiendo la tipología de Almiron et al.
(2020). A esta i
nvestigación le sigue un análisis
crítico del discurso de la cobertura de esta
enmienda en la prensa española. Este análisis
de prensa permite conocer si los periodistas
recibieron la propuesta de Vox de forma crítica y
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consensus, whether they reported it in a
neutral way, or whether they supported its
ideas. The results include a replication of
hackneyed climate change denialist arguments
as disseminated by European and North
American climate action contrarian
stakehol
ders. This paper also identifies a
critical reaction from the Spanish press to this
Vox amendment, despite the existence of
some texts that report neutrally on the
proposal.
se alinearon con el consenso científico, si
informaron de forma neutral, o si apoyaron sus
ideas. Los resultados incluyen una reproducción
de los manidos argumentos negacionistas del
cambio climático difundidos por grupos de
interés contrarios a la acción climática en
Europa y los Estados Un
idos. Este trabajo
también identifica una reacción crítica de la
prensa española a la enmienda de Vox, a pesar
de la existencia de algunos textos que informan
de forma neutral sobre la propuesta.
Keywords: climate change, climate crisis,
obstructionism, denialism, climate
countermovement.
Palabras clave: cambio climático, crisis
climática, obstruccionismo, negacionismo,
contramovimiento climático.
1. INTRODUCTION
We have more and more evidence that human activity has already had an impact on the
climate, producing a global warming at an unprecedent rate in the last two millennia (IPCC,
2021). This anthropogenic climate change is affecting the weather and thus producing climate
extreme events around the globe (IPCC, 2021). This situation will get worse if the increment of
the temperatures compared to the pre-industrial era exceeds 1.5ºC, as it will happen if the
current path of greenhouse emissions is not halted (IPCC, 2021). But climate change is a
politicized issue, and the climate policies are not keeping up with the emergency described by
the climate science. In this politicized arena, there are stakeholders trying to push towards the
adoption of effective climate policies (or climate movement), and there are others obstructing
those efforts (climate countermovement). In this scenario in which climate science has settled
plenty of evidence on the physical basis of the human-induced climate change, humanities and
social sciences must take the lead. Why humanity is not answering properly to such a threat is
a complex issue that requires from all the social sciences disciplines, to examine the
mechanisms that led to inaction.
In the Spanish context there is not a strong climate countermovement such as the one existing
in the USA or the UK. Nevertheless, there are relevant stakeholders trying to shape climate
policies so they are either aren’t adopted or, if they are, in a soft and light version. One of
these actors is the Spanish far-right party Vox. Despite the existence of research on the
discourse and the political development of this party, there is a lack of knowledge on the
specific issue of its climate change stance. The objective of this paper is to fill this gap by
examining the climate contrarian frames showed by the party in the amendment to the whole
Law Project on Climate Change and Energetic Transition (121/00019), presented by Vox on
June 17, 2020, at the Spanish Parliament. This analysis is complemented with a critical
discourse analysis of the press representation of this amendment of Vox’s in the Spanish press.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The climate countermovement, often called “denial machine” (Piltz, 2008), is made up by
corporations, opposition coalitions, PR firms, advocacy organizations, conservative
foundations, think tanks, media, politicians, journalists, and bloggers (CSSN, 2021). As the
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Climate acon obstrucon in the Spanish far right: The Vox’s amendment to the Climate Change
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Jose A. Moreno / Gina Thornton
Climate Social Science Network (ibid. 2021) summarizes, this structure of opposition has three
main goals: to influence the public agenda to assure that public opinion does not support
climate action; to shape the media to cast doubt on the actions to address climate change, and
to influence the policymaking process to obstruct the adoption of climate policies. The range
of activities this countermovement develops is wide and range from knowledge creation and
dissemination to more direct lobby.
Despite the scientific evidence regarding the climate crisis, the political ground is polarized on
how to address it. It is known that in the USA conservatives has tended to show more often
climate contrarian stances, spreading what McCright and Dunlap (2010) called “anti-
reflexivity”. This consists of the opposition to the environmental movement and science,
promoting non-decision-making and inaction towards the climate crisis. This has produced a
polarized political debate on climate issues (Fisher et al., 2013) in which the conservatives have
sought to defend the status quo, promoted by corporate funding earmarked for this purpose
(Farrell, 2016). In general, there is a correlation between support for right-wing populist
parties and climate scepticism or opposition to climate taxes (Lockwood, 2018). In Europe,
with the rise of populist far right parties there is a growing academic interest in the climate
positioning of these political groups, especially from the communication field (i.e., Forchtner,
2019; Forchtner et al., 2018; Hultman et al., 2019; Jylhä & Hellmer, 2020; Vowles & Hultman,
2021). Populist right-wing parties in Europe commonly present positions opposed to climate
action, as reported by the think tank Adelphi (Schaller & Carius, 2019). Out of twenty-one
populist right-wing parties in Europe, seven were sceptic about the climate consensus or
denied it, eleven did not produce a stance on climate change, and just two supported the
climate consensus (Schaller & Carius, 2019). In Spain, the hardest opposition to the adoption of
climate policies has been represented by the far-right populist party Vox, which has taken a
strong position against the existence of the climate emergency and the adoption of measures
to deal with it. (i.e., González, 2021; Robaina, 2019).
The Spanish Congress was one of the last remaining European parliaments with no
representation of radical right politics, alongside with neighbouring Portugal, until Vox, a far-
right, Catholic, nationalist, and populist party, became the 3rd most voted in 2019 Spanish
Elections (Gould, 2019). Vox has a strong nationalist discourse that places “Spaniards first”,
combined with a low level of nativism, that is substituted by an important fixation and
motivation surrounding the Catalan separatist process and the defence of Spain and Spanish
traditions (Turnbull-Dugarte, 2019). Vox has attracted research interest in the political sciences
field regarding its origins, rise and ideology (i.e., Ferreira, 2019; Rama et al., 2021). Also, in the
communication field Vox has been examined because of their rhetoric, in platforms such as
social media (Aladro Vico & Requeijo Rey, 2020), or by their use of emotions like fear in the
building of their discourse (Cárdenas-Rica & Lozano González, 2020). Nevertheless, despite the
relevance of Vox’s climate change ideas, there is a lack of research on the climate discourse of
this party or how it is received by the media.
In this context in which a climate countermovement seeks to undermine climate policies, and
even some political groups follow that path, journalism is a key piece in translating science and
climate action effectively into the society (Boykoff, 2019; Boykoff & Farrell, 2020). But,
although the climate change denialism does not have a considerable presence in the Spanish
press (Martín-Sosa, 2021), it is indeed failing to give climate change the rigor and attention it
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Climate acon obstrucon in the Spanish far right: The Vox’s amendment to the Climate Change
Law and its press representaon
Jose A. Moreno / Gina Thornton
requires (i.e., Fernández-Reyes, 2014; Parratt Fernández et al., 2020) and is even making
important greenhouse gas emitting sectors such as animal agriculture invisible (Moreno &
Almiron, 2021). It is also important to note that the press coverage on climate change is
subjected to structural pressure from those stakeholders involved in polluting companies or
with an interest in obstructing climate action (Mancinas-Chávez, 2013). An example of this is
the greenwashing that energy companies sponsoring the COP25 Chile-Madrid received in the
Spanish press because of their investment in advertising and public relations strategies
(Moreno & Ruiz-Alba, 2021). The multidisciplinary nature of this field of study and its relevance
given the climate crisis encourages us to contribute to this line of research with empirical
studies such as the one proposed here.
3. METHODS
The research objectives of this papers are two. First, to check if the amendment to the whole
Law Project on Climate Change and Energetic Transition (121/00019), presented by Vox on
June 17, 2020, at the Spanish Parliament, presents the most common climate action contrarian
arguments as spread by European and USA climate contrarian think tanks. And second, to
discover how the press covered the presentation of that amendment.
In order to respond to the first objective, a framing analysis has been carried out. A frame is a
certain interpretation of reality, a definition, diagnosis, judgement, or solution for a problem
(Entman, 1993). The list of climate change counterframes defined by Almiron et al. (2020) as
showed in Table 1 has been used to identify the climate contrarian arguments used in Vox’s
amendment.
Table 1
Climate counterframes
A. General scientific claims:
A1. Contesting IPCC legitimacy (implicitly or explicitly)
A2. Contesting scientific consensus & legitimacy (not IPCC)
A3. Contesting scientific dissemination (by politicians, media and other)
B. Specific scientific claims:
B4. It is not happening (climate change or global warming)
B5. It is happening, but we do not know how serious it is or it is not serious
B6. It is happening, but it is good/not bad (either global warming or particular issues of it)
B7. It is happening, but it is not us or it is not only us (other issues are also causes/main causes)
B8. It is happening, but we have other major problems
B9. It is happening, but any policy will be worse than warming
C. Non-scientific claims:
C10. Criticism of non-scientist defenders & messages & policies on a non-scientific basis
C11. The text includes a neoliberal or a neoconservative economic position (supporting economic growth as the solution, markets
self-regulation, minimum government intervention, no taxation of pollution, etc.)
C12. The text includes a mention to human population as a problem
C13. The text includes a mention to animal protein diets or animal agriculture as a problem
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Climate acon obstrucon in the Spanish far right: The Vox’s amendment to the Climate Change
Law and its press representaon
Jose A. Moreno / Gina Thornton
C14. The text trust technology as a solution to climate change or its consequences
Source: Almiron et al. (2020).
Vox presented an amendment to the whole to the Law Project on Climate Change and
Energetic Transition (121/00019) on June 17th, 2020, when this legislative text was open to
discussion by the parties. The amendment was rejected, and the law was approved on May
20th, 2021, becoming the first law on climate change approved in the Spanish parliament. Vox
voted against for considering it to be “dogmatic”.
To address the second objective, we collected a corpus of texts from the Spanish press. We
used the Factiva platform introducing the keywords “Vox AND Ley de cambio climático” for a
date range from the 1st of June 2020, until the 31st of July 2020 (the amendment was rejected
on the 14th of July). This search produced 149 hits of which, after removing duplicates and
invalid texts, 67 were apt for analysis. To analyse these texts, we applied a critical discourse
analysis (CDA) approach. CDA can be used to analyse news texts in order to expose strategies
that appear normal or neutral on the surface, but which may in fact be ideological and seek to
shape the representation of events and persons for particular ends (Machin & Mayr, 2012).
The CDA can be considered as a methodology committed to political and social change, since
its aim is to reveal underlying ideologies and discourse through language (Fairclough & Wodak,
1997). When applying a methodology that follows CDA, “categories and tools are not fixed
once and for all. They must be elaborated for each analysis according to the specific problem
under investigation” (Wodak & Meyer, 2009, p. 111). In this case, we used the following
categories for the analysis:
- Category 1, addressing the way media discourse describe the action of Vox.
- Category 2, tackling the question of representation of social actors.
- Category 3, covering the equivalence and difference between the construction of the
“in-group” and the “out-group”.
This combination of framing for the text and critical discourse analysis for the press coverage
of the amendment allow us to understand which arguments are present in the document, and
how the Spanish press reacted towards these arguments.
4. RESULTS
4.1. Frame analysis
Vox’s amendment to the climate change law presents 11 out of 14 of the climate action
contrarian frames used by Almiron et al. (2020). Table 2 shows the extracts from the
amendment that fit in each counterframe both in the original text and translated into English.
This categorization makes it clear that Vox's amendment is very much aligned with the climate
action obstructionist discourses spread by the climate countermovement.
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Climate acon obstrucon in the Spanish far right: The Vox’s amendment to the Climate Change
Law and its press representaon
Jose A. Moreno / Gina Thornton
Table 2
Frame analysis of the amendment to the whole Law Project on Climate Change and Energetic Transition
(121/00019) presented by Vox on June 17, 2020, at the Spanish Parliament
Frame
Excerpt (own translation)
Original text
A1. Contesting IPCC
legitimacy (implicitly
or explicitly)
“The alarmist forecasts of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (hereafter IPCC) are
contradicted time and again by reality.” (p.4)
«Las previsiones alarmistas del Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (en adelante IPCC) se ven
desmentidas una y otra vez por la realidad)». (p.4)
A2. Contesting
scientific consensus
& legitimacy (not
IPCC)
“Climate alarmism is becoming a new religion.
Logically independent propositions (that the
temperature is rising; that the rise is due to man-
made greenhouse gases; that the rise will
accelerate in this century; that the rise will be very
damaging to humanity; that it will be accompanied
by all sorts of catastrophes - hurricanes, droughts,
etc. - lumped together in the catch-all of ‘climate
change’) are lumped into a single inseparable
package.” (p.3)
“VOX leaves science to the scientists, and has no
position of its own on climate issues. It considers,
however, that the debate is not closed, and that it
is irrational to take the whole climate-catastrophist
package as an article of faith. ...] scientists are not
conclusive in seeing a clear correlation between
the rate of thermal increase and human action.”
(p.3).
«El alarmismo climático está haciendo las veces de
una nueva religión. Se agrupan en un solo paquete
indisociable -para el cual se exige un asentimiento
sin fisuras, so pena de ser anatemizado como
“negacionista”- proposiciones lógicamente
independientes (que la temperatura está subiendo;
que la subida se debe a los gases de invernadero
emitidos por el hombre; que la subida se va a
acelerar en este siglo; que esa subida será muy
perjudicial para la humanidad; que vendrá
acompañada de todo tipo de catástrofes -
huracanes, sequías, etc.- agrupadas en el cajón de
sastre del “cambio climático”)». (p.3)
«VOX deja la ciencia a los científicos, y carece de
una posición propia sobre cuestiones climatológicas.
Considera, sin embargo, que el debate no está
cerrado, y que es irracional asumir como artículo de
fe el paquete climático-catastrofista en su totalidad.
[…] los científicos no son concluyentes al apreciar
una correlación clara entre el ritmo de incremento
térmico y la acción humana» (p.3)
A3. Contesting
scientific
dissemination (by
politicians, media
and other)
“[...] 'change' can be anything: any phenomenon
(the rise of temperatures, but also their stagnation,
as happened during 'the Pause' of 1998-2014, or
that of 1945-75.” (p.3)
«[…] ‘cambio’ puede ser cualquier cosa: cualquier
fenómeno (la subida de temperaturas, pero también
su estancamiento, como ocurrió durante ‘la Pausa’
de 1998-2014, o la de 1945-75». (p.3)
B5. It is happening,
but we don’t know
how serious it is or
it is not serious
“The imminent melting of the polar ice caps has
been repeatedly predicted, but the Arctic ice sheet
was thicker in September 2019 than it was in 2007
according to the US National Snow & Ice Data
Center, and a NASA study published in 2015 in the
Journal of Glaciology certified that the Antarctic ice
mass, rather than decreasing, is increasing.” (p.4).
“To claim that a temperature two or three degrees
higher will lead humanity to disaster by the end of
the 21st century denotes a degree of lucidity
comparable to that of the futurologists who,
around 1890, predicted that in thirty years London
and Paris would lie under a mountain of dung,
given the exponential growth in the number of
horse-drawn carriages.” (p.6)
«Se ha pronosticado repetidamente el inminente
deshielo de los casquetes polares, pero la banquisa
ártica era en septiembre de 2019 más gruesa que en
2007 según el National Snow & Ice Data Center de
EE.UU., y un estudio de la NASA publicado en 2015
en el Journal of Glaciology certificaba que la masa
de hielo antártico, en lugar de disminuir, está
aumentando» (p.4)
«Asegurar que una temperatura dos o tres grados
más alta llevará a la humanidad al desastre a
finales del siglo XXI, denota un grado de lucidez
comparable al de los futurólogos que, hacia 1890,
pronosticaban que en treinta años Londres y París
yacerían bajo una montaña de estiércol, dado el
crecimiento exponencial del número de coches de
caballos». (p.6)
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Climate acon obstrucon in the Spanish far right: The Vox’s amendment to the Climate Change
Law and its press representaon
Jose A. Moreno / Gina Thornton
B6. It is happening,
but it is good/not
bad (either global
warming or
particular issues of
it)
“Some experts claim CO2 as a fundamental
element of life on Earth, as it is necessary for
photosynthesis. CO2 is only responsible for 15% of
the greenhouse effect (without the greenhouse
effect, the temperature of the planet would be 30
degrees lower, and life would not have been
possible). The increase of CO2 in the atmosphere
has generated positive effects that climate
catastrophism carefully conceals.” (p.5).
“Professor Richard Tol of the University of Sussex
has produced a model that computes the positive
and negative effects of rising temperatures: he
concludes that there will be net benefits (heating
savings, increased crop yields, etc.) up to an
increase of 2.2 degrees above the global
temperature in 2009; above that threshold, the
costs would outweigh the benefits.” (p. 5)
«Algunos expertos reivindican el CO2 como
elemento fundamental de la vida en la Tierra, al ser
necesario para la fotosíntesis. El CO2 solo es
responsable de un 15% del efecto invernadero (sin
efecto invernadero, la temperatura del planeta sería
30 grados más baja, y la vida no habría sido
posible). El aumento de CO2 en la atmósfera ha
generado efectos positivos que el catastrofismo
climático oculta cuidadosamente» (p.5)
«El profesor Richard Tol, de la Universidad de
Sussex, ha elaborado un modelo que computa los
efectos favorables y desfavorables de la subida de
temperatura: concluye que habrá beneficio neto
(ahorro en calefacción, aumento de cosechas, etc.)
hasta un aumento de 2,2 grados respecto a la
temperatura global de 2009; por encima de ese
umbral, los costes superarían a las ventajas». (p. 5)
B8. It is happening,
but we have other
major problems
“The OECD already places Spain at the head of the
world economic collapse; we are registering the
greatest destruction of employment in Europe and
the deterioration of the productive fabric is taking
the number of companies back to the beginning of
the century. The "climate emergency" must be
compatible with the real economic and social
emergency facing Spaniards. For elementary
considerations of national survival, the PLCCTE
must be returned to the government.” (p.12).
«La OCDE sitúa ya a España a la cabeza del
desplome económico mundial; registramos la mayor
destrucción de empleo de Europa y el deterioro del
tejido productivo retrotrae el número de empresas a
principios de siglo. La “emergencia climática” tiene
que ser compatible con la auténtica emergencia
económica y la social que enfrentan los españoles.
Por consideraciones elementales de supervivencia
nacional, el PLCCTE debe ser devuelto al Gobierno».
(p.12).
B9. It is happening,
but any policy will
be worse than
warming
“Spain must remain committed to the
environment, but not at any cost.” (p. 1).
«España debe seguir comprometida con el medio
ambiente, pero no a cualquier coste» (p. 1)
C10. Criticism of
non-scientist
defenders &
messages & policies
on a non-scientific
basis
“The left, whose environmental sensitivity is very
recent, needs pretexts to justify coercive state
intervention in the economy and society:
sometimes it is 'poverty' (which tends to multiply
as a result of socialist policies); other times,
'gender oppression', or 'racial discrimination'. As all
of these are phenomena that have been overcome
- or are residual - in contemporary Spain, a new
excuse for dirigisme has been sought in the
'climate emergency'.” (p.2).
“By simultaneously rejecting fossil fuels and
nuclear energy, the "energy and climate package"
(PLCCTE + PNIEC) breaks with scientific rationality
and economic realism, condemning Spain to energy
poverty and impoverishment.” (p.11)
«La izquierda, cuya sensibilidad medioambiental es
muy reciente, necesita pretextos para justificar la
intervención coactiva del Estado en la economía y la
sociedad: unas veces es ‘la pobreza’ (que suele
multiplicarse como resultado de las políticas
socialistas); otras, la ‘opresión de género’, o la
‘discriminación racial’. Como todos ellos son
fenómenos superados -o residuales- en la España
contemporánea, se ha buscado en la ‘emergencia
climática’ una nueva excusa para el dirigismo» (p.2)
«Al rechazar simultáneamente los combustibles
fósiles y la energía nuclear, el "paquete energía y
clima" (PLCCTE + PNIEC) rompe con la racionalidad
científica y el realismo económico, condenando a
España a la penuria energética y el
empobrecimiento». (p.11)
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Climate acon obstrucon in the Spanish far right: The Vox’s amendment to the Climate Change
Law and its press representaon
Jose A. Moreno / Gina Thornton
C11. The text
includes a neoliberal
or a
neoconservative
economic position
(supporting
economic growth as
the solution,
markets self-
regulation,
minimum
government
intervention, no
taxation of
pollution, etc.)
“The pursuit of these objectives will require
exhaustive state interventionism in economic life
and a brutal increase in public spending.” (p.2).
“On the contrary, we at Vox believe that this
approach could have adverse effects on
investment, consumption, employment and the
competitiveness of the Spanish economy.” (p.2).
“Spanish CO2 emissions represent 0.7% of the
world total. If, after fleecing Spaniards with green
taxes and condemning fossil fuel-dependent
industries to bankruptcy or relocation, the targets
set by the PLCCTE (23% reduction in emissions)
were achieved, our positive impact on the global
volume of emissions would be 0.17%.” (p.7).
“The various energy sources must be able to
compete freely with each other, and companies
must be allowed to choose the most profitable
ones. ...] If renewables become truly cost-effective,
they will take over on their own, just as light bulbs
displaced quinqués and automobiles displaced
horse-drawn carriages”. (p.7)
«La búsqueda de esos objetivos requerirá un
intervencionismo exhaustivo del Estado en la vida
económica y un incremento brutal del gasto
público» (p.2).
«En Vox consideramos, por el contrario, que este
planteamiento puede tener efectos adversos para la
inversión, el consumo, el empleo y la competitividad
de la economía española» (p.2).
«Las emisiones españolas de CO2 representan un
0'7% del total mundial. Si después de esquilmar a
los españoles con impuestos verdes y condenar a la
quiebra o la deslocalización a las industrias
dependientes de combustibles fósiles, se alcanzaran
los objetivos marcados por el PLCCTE (reducción del
23% en las emisiones), nuestra incidencia positiva
en el volumen mundial de emisiones sería de un
0'17%». (p.7)
«Las diversas fuentes de energía han de poder
competir libremente entre sí, y debe permitirse a las
empresas optar por las más rentables. […] Si las
renovables llegan a ser realmente rentables, se
impondrán por sí mismas, de la misma forma que
las bombillas eléctricas desplazaron a los quinqués y
los automóviles a los coches de caballos.» (p.7)
C12. The text
includes a mention
to human
population as a
problem
“The neo-Malthusian predictions of Paul Ehrlich
(The Population Bomb, 1968) or the Club of Rome
(The Limits to Growth Report, 1972), which
predicted a rapid depletion of essential resources
due to overpopulation, were similarly ridiculous.
They all forgot that the most important resource is,
as Julian Simon theorised, human intelligence,
which makes it possible to do more and more with
less”. (p. 6)
«En ridículos similares incurrieron las predicciones
neomaltusianas de Paul Ehrlich (The Population
Bomb, 1968) o el Club de Roma (Informe "Los límites
del crecimiento", 1972), que auguraban un rápido
agotamiento de recursos esenciales debido a la
superpoblación. Todos ellos olvidaron que el más
importante de los recursos es, como teorizara Julian
Simon, la inteligencia humana, que permite hacer
cada vez más con menos». (p. 6)
C14. The text trust
technology as a
solution to climate
change or its
consequences
“In 2080, if the rate of economic growth of recent
decades continues, we will be three times richer
than we are now, and technology will be capable of
feats we cannot even dream of now”. (p.6)
“The PLCCTE, in its lack of balance to eradicate
fossil fuels, neglects other technological horizons
that would allow CO2 reduction without harming
business competitiveness. For example, the new
Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS)
techniques for capturing CO2”. (p.9)
“Nuclear energy is clean energy. It does not emit
CO2, and that is why it has been defended by great
leaders of the environmental movement, such as
James Lovelock (the father of the ‘Gaia
hypothesis’); James Hansen, Ken Caldeira, Tom
Wigley and Kerry Emanuel, prophets of climate-
catastrophism”. (p.10)
«En 2080, si se mantiene el ritmo de crecimiento
económico de las últimas décadas, seremos tres
veces más ricos que ahora, y la tecnología será
capaz de proezas que ahora no podemos ni soñar».
(p.6)
«El PLCCTE, en su falta de equilibrio por erradicar los
combustibles fósiles, desatiende otros horizontes
tecnológicos que permitirían reducir CO2 sin
perjudicar la competitividad empresarial. Por
ejemplo, las nuevas técnicas Carbon Capture, Use
and Storage (CCUS) de captación de CO2». (p.9)
«[…] la energía nuclear es una energía limpia. No
emite CO2, y por eso ha sido defendida por grandes
referentes del movimiento ecologista, como James
Lovelock (el padre de la "hipótesis Gaia"); James
Hansen, Ken Caldeira, Tom Wigley y Kerry Emanuel,
profetas del clima-catastrofismo». (p.10)
Source: own elaboration.
4.2. Critical discourse analysis
Through CDA we will be looking at the three aforementioned categories, as well as the use of
nationalist, ethnocentric and traditionalist discourse overall.
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4.2.1. Category 1. Representation of political discourse and ideology
This analysis category of political discourse and ideology is inspired by the work of Fairclough
(2003). We will be looking at agency (who does what to whom) and action (what gets done),
paying special attention to participants (does and done-tos), process (verbal groups), and
circumstances (adverbial groups, prepositional phrases). Table 3 shows this examination.
Table 3
Analysis of the representation of political discourse and ideology (Category 1)
Categories
Example excerpt (translation)
Example excerpt (original)
Far-right party
(participant)
“‘Climate is changing and has evolved during
decades’ assured far-right party minister Mireia
Borràs.” (El Periódico de Catalunya, 14/7/2020)
«“El clima es cambiante y ha evolucionado durante
siglos”, ha asegurado la diputada del partido de
ultraderecha Mireia Borrás» (El Periódico de
Catalunya, 14/7/2020).
Underlined
(process)
Far-right
(participant)
“The PSOE representative, Helena Caballero
Gutiérrez, underlined that Vox hadn’t even
bothered writing an alternative text. The far-
right’s approach, said Caballero, ‘goes against
scientific rationality’.” (Sur Online, 14/7/2020)
«La representante del PSOE, Helena Caballero
Gutiérrez, subrayó que Vox ni siquiera se ha tomado
la molestia de redactar un texto alternativo. Los
planteamientos de la ultraderecha, dijo Caballero,
“atentan contra la racionalidad científica”» (Sur
Online, 14/7/2020)
Ridiculed
(process)
“‘Lets see if we have things clear!’, ridiculed
Juantxo López de Uralde, MEP of Unidas
Podemos.” (La Vanguardia, 14/7/2020).
«“¡A ver si nos aclaramos!”, ridiculizó esa postura
Juantxo Lopez de Uralde, diputado de Unidas
Podemos» (La Vanguardia, 14/7/2020)
Source: own elaboration.
4.2.2. Category 2. Representing social actors
It’s impossible to represent political actors, or people generally, in a neutral manner, and how
we characterize someone can serve psychological, social and political purposes (Reisigl and
Wodak, 2001). The aim of this category is to establish how the media represents the political
actors from Vox and their surrounding circles (voters, supporters, etc.). Table 4 gathers the
main social actors in these texts.
Table 4
Analysis of the representing social actors (Category 2)
Social actor
represented
Example excerpt (translation) Example excerpt (original)
Vox’s Spokesperson
Mireia Borràs (16
mentions)
“Vox deputy Mireia Borrás Pabón, in charge of
presenting this amendment to the totality, said
during her speech that the bill means an
‘exhaustive interventionism of the State in
economic life and a brutal increase in public
spending’.” (EFE/Diario de Sevilla, 14/7/2020)
«La diputada de Vox Mireia Borrás Pabón,
encargada de presentar esta enmienda a la
totalidad, ha asegurado durante su intervención
que el proyecto supone un “intervencionismo
exhaustivo del Estado en la vida económica y un
incremento brutal del gasto público”.» (EFE/Diario
de Sevilla,14/7/2020)
Vox (as the party /
the far-right party /
Santiago Abascal’s
party) (81 mentions)
“The party led by Santiago Abascal also
denounces the declared ‘hostility’ of the
Executive in this law to fossil fuels.” (Europa
Press, 17/6/2020)
«El partido que preside Santiago Abascal, también
denuncia la "hostilidad" declarada del Ejecutivo en
esta ley a los combustibles fósiles.» (Europa Press,
17/6/2020)
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Vox’s supporters (4
mentions)
“Their response contrasts with that of Vox
voters, of whom only one in five say they oppose
hydrocarbon exploration.” (El Mundo, 8/6/2020)
«Su respuesta contrasta con la de los votantes de
Vox, entre los cuales solo uno de cada cinco se
declara contrario a la exploración de
hidrocarburos.» (El Mundo, 8/6/2020)
Teresa Ribera
(deputy Prime
Minister, PSOE, in
charge) (19
mentions)
“In her speech, Ribera rejected the main
arguments used by Vox in its amendment to
reject the government's text.” (Europa Press,
14/7/2020)
«En su intervención, Ribera ha rechazado los
principales argumentos que Vox utiliza en su
enmienda a la totalidad para rechazar el texto del
Gobierno.» (Europa Press, 14/7/2020)
Juantxo López de
Uralde (deputy,
Unidas Podemos) (7
mentions)
“Juantxo López de Uralde, asked what
‘patriotism’ Vox defends when it denies the
‘damage’ that climate change is doing to its
territory.” (Europa Press, 14/7/2020)
«Juantxo López de Uralde, se ha preguntado qué
"patriotismo" es que el defiende Vox cuando niega
el "daño" que el cambio climático está haciendo a
su territorio» (Europa Press, 14/7/2020)
Spanish citizens,
mainly farmers,
hunters and
stockbreeders (7
mentions)
“Vox does not buy these dogmas that ‘blame the
Spaniards’, especially cattle breeders, farmers
and hunters.” (Europa Press, 14/7/2020)
«Vox no compra estos dogmas que "culpan a los
españoles", especialmente a los ganaderos,
agricultores y cazadores» (Europa Press,
14/7/2020)
Source: own elaboration.
Here we can see a clear case of functionalization: the most affected Spanish citizens are
defined based on their job, and, apart from the party, the main actors are related due to their
role in the process. The most interesting aspect is, however, the last category, and the use of
traditional vision of Spanish agriculture (“citizens, farmers, hunters, stockbreeders”) and the
indirect use of this category in the discourse. This fits perfectly into the far-right discourse
frame of using certain tropes, such as this functionalization, relating to national and traditional
values, in order to focus their discourse and actions as an act of preservation ethno-national
culture and tradition.
4.2.3. Category 3. Equivalence and difference
The aim of this category is to understand the construction of the “in-group” and the “out-
group”, and the difference between positive and negative representations of each. To do this
we have used an adaptation of Wodak’s (2009) equivalence and difference strategies.
Table 5
Analysis of equivalence and difference through referential/nomination (Category 3)
Equivalence and difference
Example excerpt (translation)
Example excerpt (original)
In-group (according to Vox):
Patriots, farmers, livestock breeders
Vs.
Out-group / the others (according to
Vox): PSOE / Government / Left-wing
“Mireia Borrás Pavón, spokesperson for
Vox, assures that the department
directed by Teresa Ribes aims to ‘blame
farmers and livestock breeders’ for
climate change.” (La Verdad, 15/7/2020).
«Mireia Borrás Pavón, portavoz de Vox,
aseguró que el departamento que dirige
Teresa Ribera pretende “culpabilizar a
agricultores y ganaderos” del cambio
climático.» (La Verdad, 15/7/2020).
In-group (according to Vox):
The Spanish people, who are going
through socioeconomic crisis
Vs.
Out-group / the others (according to
Vox):
The implied elite who care about climate
change
“Vox considers that the text isn’t
compatible with ‘the real social and
economic emergency that the Spanish
are going through’ and for that reason it
endangers ‘national survival’.” (Europa
Press, 17/6/2020)
«Vox (…) al considerar que se trata de un
texto que no es compatible con “la
auténtica emergencia económica y social
a la que se enfrentan los españoles” y,
por tanto, pone en peligro la
“supervivencia nacional”.» (Europa Press,
17/6/2020)
Source: own elaboration.
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4.2.4. Analysis of nationalistic, traditionalistic and Eurosceptic discourses
To end with, we have addressed the appearance in the press of Vox’s discourses anchored in
nationalism, traditionalism and Euroscepticism while discussing the climate change law. Table
6 summarizes some examples.
Table 6
Analysis of equivalence and difference through referential/nomination (Category 3)
Excerpt examples (translated)
Excerpt examples (original)
“Negative effects on investment, consumption, employment
and Spanish economic competitivity.” (Europa Press,
17/6/2020)
«“efectos adversos en la inversión, el consumo, el empleo y en
la competitividad económica española”.» (Europa Press,
17/6/2020)
“Endangers ‘national survival’.” (Europa Press, 17/6/2020)
«pone en peligro la “supervivencia nacional”.» (Europa Press,
17/6/2020)
Vox believes that these goals are designed to (..) “radically
transform” (...) “even the Spaniard’s way of life”. (Europa Press,
18/6/2020)
«Vox cree que estos objetivos están diseñados para (...)
“transformar radicalmente” (...) “hasta el modo de vida de los
españoles.”» (Europa Press, 18/6/2020)
“The energy lobbies are the ones marking the European
agenda”. (Europa Press, 4/6/2020)
«“Son los lobbys energéticos los que están marcando la agenda
europea.”» (Europa Press, 4/6/2020)
“Vox has called the Government’s Climate Change Law
‘repressive’, and claims that ‘it aims to change the economy
and the lives of Spanish people’”. (Europa Press, 14/7/2020)
«Vox ha criticado la “liberticida” ley de Cambio Climático del
Gobierno que, a su juicio, “quiere cambiar la economía y la vida
de los españoles.”» (Europa Press, 14/7/2020)
Source: own elaboration.
These results are the representation of Vox’s legitimation of their posture through the use of
nationalist terminology, proof of how far-right parties seek to transmit traditionalist,
ethnonationalist and even economic-protectionist (less common) values through their
arguments in any field, including climate change.
4.2.5. Vox’s climate change law amendment in the Spanish press: an overview
The Spanish press' portrayal of the amendment to the climate change law tabled by Vox is
predominantly critical. The analysis of the participants in the journalistic discourse (political
actors cited) and the processes that are reflected, show that Vox's amendment represents a
minority position and is not aligned with the scientific consensus. Thus, the proposal of the
extreme right-wing party is ridiculed and shown as lacking argumentative support.
For its part, the analysis of the social actors involved reflects an over-representation of Vox.
Despite the nuance of Vox's discourse and the inclusion of actors who reject the amendment
proposed by the party, there are shortcomings in the inclusion of other voices (from fields such
as science, activism, or civil society) that counteract the extreme right-wing discourses issued
by the party and picked up by the press.
Vox's discourse delimits an in-group formed by the party and its supporters, leaving the
progressive politicians in government in an out-group. This representation and
dichotomization contribute to the polarization of an issue as sensitive as climate change, on
which it is necessary to reach consensus and agreements that facilitate the adoption of climate
policies.
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Finally, this analysis shows how Vox's ideals (nationalism, traditionalism and even a bit of
Euroscepticism) are intertwined with its climate discourse, underpinning its reactionary
position towards the adoption of climate change mitigation policies.
5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
This research fills a knowledge gap on Vox's discourse on climate change issues. Specifically, it
analyses Vox's discourse with respect to the Spanish climate change law passed in 2021
through an amendment made by the party in 2020. This amendment is clearly aligned with the
most common climate action contrarian discourses in the US and Europe, as it includes the
main denialist and obstructionist arguments most used by organizations in this line. These
discourses employ rhetorical mechanisms that have already been analysed and dismantled on
numerous occasions (e.g., Cook et al., 2018; McKie, 2019). This analysis shows a similarity
between the frames used by Vox in its amendment and those issued by the main European
think tanks against climate action studied by Almiron et al. (2020). In fact, it is worth noting
here that Vox cites in its amendment Richard Tol, one of the authors collaborating with the
Global Warming Policy Foundation, a popular English think tank known for its opposition to
climate action (Black, 2018). Furthermore, the former director of the Juan de Mariana Institute
(another of the obstructionist think tanks studied by Almiron et al. 2020), Eduardo Fernández
Luiña, is deputy director of Vox's think tank, Fundación Disenso.
As for the press reception of Vox's amendment to the climate change law, the coverage is
eminently critical. However, shortcomings have been detected in terms of the inclusion of
voices to counter Vox's discourse in the press, which is marked by polarization and the use of
nationalist elements to defend its position against climate action. In this sense, it would be
useful for the press to provide the public with more tools to identify the climate
countermovement and to avoid loopholes that cast doubt on the scientific consensus on
climate change (van der Linden et al., 2017).
Vox's discourse thus also aligns with the positions opposed to climate action of other European
far-right parties described by Schaller and Carius (2019). In this regard, Forchtner and Lubarda
(2021) indicate that far-right parties are focusing their positions on obstructing climate policies
and not so much towards denying climate science; in other words, they are more
obstructionist than denialist. In the case of the amendment to the climate change law
presented by Vox, there are frames of denial of the scientific consensus on climate change,
rejection of scientific projections and criticism of climate science, without the frame of literal
denial of the existence of climate change appearing. But, despite the importance of this type of
misleading arguments that adduce an alleged lack of scientific consensus, the framings against
climate policies based on different ideological and economic arguments stand out, which is
consistent with what Forchtner and Lubarda (2021) stated. In this regard, Forchtner and
Lubarda (2021) warn that far-right parties may use arguments against climate action “to
mainstream its ‘othering’ of, for example, migrants, liberals and leftists, ‘the elite’ and
international organizations”, a situation that other authors such as Lockwood (2018) have also
pointed out. The critical discourse analysis conducted in this article corroborates this dynamic,
as processes of dichotomization and otherness of this style have been detected in the Vox
discourse picked up by the press on the amendment to the climate change law.
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At the journalistic level, the existence of actors with such obstructionist discourses as the one
analysed in this article makes the already complicated task (Boykoff, 2019; Mancinas, 2013) of
communicating the climate crisis even more difficult. Thus, at this point, it would be of interest
to revise Lakoff’s work (2010), who indicates that there is a hypocognition regarding the
frames that explain the climate crisis, that is, there is a lack of arguments and frameworks to
understand what is happening. Given the journalistic responsibility to effectively communicate
the climate problem to the public in an effective way (Boykoff, 2019), it is worth reflecting
here on the extent to which attention should be paid to political parties, interest groups and
organizations whose aim is to obstruct climate action, rather than to those stakeholders who
seek solutions in line with climate science and the emergency situation.
This research is just one more empirical contribution to the line of study on the climate
countermovement, specifically in the Spanish political context. Future studies can focus more
on the obstructionist discourses of political parties on climate action and how these are
represented in the press, in other media or even how they are performed in social media. It
would also be interesting to carry out studies on the reception of these discourses, to see
whether the political polarization around climate change portrayed by Vox is also transferred
to the audience, or whether the latter is more aligned with the climate consensus and rejects
the party's postulates. In any case, research into the obstruction of climate action is now more
necessary than ever, especially in the field of communication, which has become a
battleground where multiple interests come into play to influence public opinion and decision-
making on how to act to tackle the climate crisis.
NOTES
This work was supported by the Spanish State Research Agency (Agencia Estatal de
Investigación, AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under grant
CSO2016-78421-R; and by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under
Grant FPU18/04207.
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About the authors
Jose A. Moreno is a predoctoral fellow in the PhD program in Communication at Universitat
Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona within the University Teacher Training Programme (FPU) of the
Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Member of the Critical
Communication Research Group (CRITICC) and the research project THINKClima (CSO2016-
78421-R) in the Department of Communication at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. His line of
research focuses on climate change communication and interest groups.
Gina Thornton is an independent researcher, with experience as a Research Assistant for the
UNICA research group at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and currently works as a project
technician at the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants. She was
a member of the Advanced Seminar of Discourse Studies in 2020 (SAED) and her line of
research focuses on political communication, far-right studies, and critical discourse analysis.
Ámbitos. Revista Internacional de Comunicación | N0. 53 (2021) | 25 - 40
hp://dx.doi.org/10.12795/Ambitos.2022.i55.02
ISSN: 1139-1979 | E-ISSN: 1988-5733
40
Climate acon obstrucon in the Spanish far right: The Vox’s amendment to the Climate Change
Law and its press representaon
Jose A. Moreno / Gina Thornton
