How Rightwing Populism and Accelerationism Fuels Climate Denial

How Rightwing Populism and Accelerationism Fuels Climate Denial

Author: Pushkin Industries September 23, 2025 Duration: 1:18:33

Jesse Bryant (Yale University) and Dieter Plehwe (University of Kassel) examine the growing connection between right-wing populism, climate change denial, and resistance to climate policy. They explore how rising authoritarian politics in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe are reshaping public discourse and obstructing meaningful climate change.

Additional resources:
Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment 

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There’s a story behind the stalled progress on climate change that goes beyond melting ice and rising seas-it’s a story of deliberate deception. Drilled, from Pushkin Industries, approaches the climate crisis through the lens of investigative true crime. Led by veteran reporter Amy Westervelt and a team of award-winning climate journalists, this podcast meticulously traces how networks of corporate interests and political operatives constructed a decades-long campaign of denial and delay. Each season is a deep forensic examination, pulling on threads of new evidence to unravel systems of disinformation and hidden power. What you’ll hear isn’t just a recap of scientific reports, but a gripping narrative that follows the paper trail, the leaked memos, and the orchestrated efforts that have held meaningful action just out of reach. The result is a compelling and often unsettling listen that reframes our understanding of the past half-century. By treating climate inaction as a crime story, this podcast reveals the human architects and the calculated strategies that brought us here, making complex collusion startlingly clear. Tune in for a masterclass in accountability journalism.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Drilled
Podcast Episodes
Climate Obstruction in the Global South [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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The United States is a global leader of climate obstruction, but it's not the only guilty country. M. Omar Faruque (Queen’s University, Canada) and Ruth E. McKie (De Montfort University) look at how and why climate obstr…
Challenging the Narratives [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:20
Do the facts behind the narratives being told by Norway's fossil fuel industry, and government, add up? We hear experts critique some of the stories that keep Norwegian oil and gas pumping, while industry representatives…
Drilling Deep: Karen House on Saudi Arabia Under Mohammed bin Salman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:00
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Wall Street Journal publisher Karen Elliott House, author of The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia, joins Adam Lowenstein to di…
Abdul El-Sayed on Climate Complexities and Benevolent Masculinity [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:35
In this extended conversation, climate policy expert Abdul El-Sayed explores the complexities of the climate crisis and the role of masculinity in shaping how men engage, or fail to engage, with climate solutions.See omn…
How the Animal Agriculture Industry Blocks Methane Regulation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:25
For decades, the meat and dairy industries avoided scrutiny for the planet-heating emissions they pump into the atmosphere. As governments began considering methane regulation, the animal agriculture sector starting work…
Introducing The Black Thread: The Norwegians [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:10
Over the next few weeks, we're sharing a new mini-series, The Black Thread, about Norway's complicated relationship with its identity as both a progressive leader and oil state.Social norms and cultural values shape Norw…
Facing Climate Despair: How to Cope with Wen Stephenson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:32
The climate crisis can feel overwhelming—to witness venture-capital-fueled AI domination, democracy’s steady drift toward authoritarianism, state-sanctioned genocide, and the collapse of one climate boundary after anothe…
How the Fossil Fuel Industry Sabotages Climate Action [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:24
The fossil fuel industry has undoubtedly played a central role in obstructing climate action through lobbying, impacting political influence, and spreading disinformation. Academic Kristoffer Ekberg (Lund University), no…