Description
International political economy (IPE) has become increasingly concerned with global energy transition but its focus on states and markets precludes serious consideration of the climate movement as a purposive actor from below. Social movement studies and environmental politics literatures have paid more attention to climate movement organisations but these neglect analysis of the movement as a whole, including its influence in the realm of international climate politics. This paper therefore considers the past, present and future role of the climate movement in the dissemination of global ecological consciousness, construction of international climate governance institutions, and creation of green markets. To do so, it compares organisational cases (Greenpeace, 350.org and Extinction Rebellion), each representative of a period of movement history, between the UK and US, to chart the impact of climate movement through time.
The climate movement’s development interacts with the idiosyncratic characteristics of global climate change as an issue, which produces a series of dilemmas along four dimensions: organisational structure, politics, strategy, and framing. As the contradictions of each dilemma intensify, the climate movement has become less impactful in international climate politics leaving anti-climate forces relatively unencumbered. Prospects for global climate transition now depend on climate movement renewal.
