Cas Mudde, a well-known political scientist specialized in far right and populism, sees the global rise of far-right politics as a threat to the world order. Far right is a political ideology which is characterized by extreme nationalism, nativism, populism and even authoritarianism. Far right politics often includes elements of racism, xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination. Far rightist ideologies have been rising around the world since the advent of the 21st century, presenting a challenge to global cooperation, particularly in the realm of climate change because far right parties often pursue an anti-global and extreme nationalist agenda, which can hinder global cooperation efforts. This trend has been particularly evident in Europe and in the United States under the Trump’s administration, which adopted a series of far-right climate policies that had the impact of deteriorating global cooperation on climate change.
Understanding the implications of rise of far-right ideology in global politics on international collaboration on issues of mutual concern like climate change, helps in identifying the nuances in climate action. In the recent years, far right parties in some countries have become the mainstream parties and, in some places, the mainstream parties have become far right, leading to rise of far rightist populist leaders like Viktor Orban in Hungary, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Donald Trump in the US, Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Jarosław Kaczynski in Poland etc. Climate crisis is not a priority for such parties and leaders. Though both topics of the rise of far-right politics and climate change are widely discussed in academia in their individual respects, their nexus is barely explored. Evidently. there is a direct linkage between far-right parties and climate change denial. Such parties and leaders are found to be more likely to favor energy generated from fossil fuels than using clean and renewable energies. They adopt fewer environmental regulations, and are less likely to favor global collaboration for climate change mitigation.The far-right leaders often create a discourse that portrays climate change as an over-emphasized conspiracy and agenda created by elite lobby groups to secure their financial supremacy. They see climate regulations as a burden and a conspiracy to hinder their country’s economic and industrial development by proposing limits to the amount of carbon footprint acceptable to be produced by the country. Such a discourse attracts people’s attention and draws nationalists’ support, especially from people with far right and extremists’ tendencies.
Most far right populist parties and their supporters, express climate skepticism and are against adopting domestic policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and to take part in global efforts to address the climate issue. In countries like Poland, Hungary and US, far rightist leaders have reversed the climate policies accusing such policies to be against their economic development and national interest.Poland’s Rule and Justice party, that ruled the country for eight years till December 2023, was against many of EU’s proposed climate policies and even imposed restrictions on wind farm installations. Similarly, Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary since 2010, imposed a ban on wind power, increased taxes on solar power, and rollbacked on several environmental protection policies.Trump, during his 2016 to 2020 tenure, not only announced withdrawal from the Paris Agreement of 2015 but also halted all implementation of the treaty by taking domestic measures that enhanced carbon emissions including reversing several carbon related Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations. He announced that US’ “all financial contributions to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) would stop.” which has adverse effects on global climate finance.
Trump denied the severity of global warming and stated that it is a trick by China to weaken the industrial growth and economic development of the US. He stated that the Paris agreement imposes restrictions on the US while empowering other countries, thus the US would re-enter the treaty only after renegotiations. Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement had a negative effect on US global political credibility, international relations, and long-term economic growth.In the recent campaign by Trump, the discourse around climate change is still based on falsification and climate skepticism, with Trump emphasizing that the taxpayer’s money should be spent on energy infrastructure projects based on fossil fuels and not for “meaningless green new scam ideas”, pledging to withdraw from Paris agreement again and adopt pro-American energy policies.Another case study of far-right leader that has adopted climate skeptic policies is Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, president from 2019 to 2023, who reduced the funding for many environmental agencies, encouraged deforestation of the Amazon forests and was openly against global climate initiatives. In conclusion, climate change, which is one of the most drastic contemporary nontraditional security issues and threatens the existence of mankind, requires collaborative efforts from all states. But as the far-right political parties have become mainstream parties in many states, this has posed an additional challenge for climate action. The stance and policies adopted by far-right parties and politicians act as a barrier for effective climate action because these policies are usually centered on nationalism and populism, rather than having a commitment to collective action. If such parties continue to push for environment degrading policies for the sake of national interests, the consequences will be drastic in the form of worsened environment and increased global natural disasters.
Misbah Zainab holds a degree in International Relations from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad. She is an independent researcher, particularly interested in research on strategic competitions, emerging technologies and sustainable development.
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