Climate crisis meets right-wing populism

The world is on track to warm 4 degrees more by the end of the century unless the global community takes urgent action on climate change.

A Carbon Brief study warns that a two-degree celsius rise this century would trigger catastrophic impacts, including the collapse of ice sheets, flooding in major cities and a rise in sea levels of more than half a metre. 

Global GDP would shrink by 13 percent, with 400 million more people facing water scarcity and extreme heat waves killing thousands. 

In India, extreme heat events would increase 32-fold. In Canada, the frequency of warm extremes over land would increase 162 to 196 percent. 

At three degrees celsius higher, southern Europe would face permanent drought, Central America’s droughts would last 19 months on average and wildfires in the Mediterranean, Canada and the U.S. would intensify. Cities from Miami to Jakarta would be submerged, and river flooding damage would increase dramatically in Bangladesh, India and the UK.

At four degrees celsius higher, global grain yields could drop by 50 percent, and the global economy could shrink by more than 30 percent, leading to a significant increase in conflict and instability.

This is not a future confined to a specific region—it will impact everyone, regardless of whether they live in developed or developing countries.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, there is a growing shift toward right-wing political movements that reject the reality of climate change.

In the United States, the election of Donald Trump as president to begin a second term marked a dramatic pivot away from climate action, as he aggressively pursues his "energy dominance" agenda by rolling back protections for public lands and national parks, opening them up for mining and drilling.

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump is committed to expanding oil and gas extraction in National Parks.

(National Parks Conservation Association)

As part of his campaign promises to toss crucial environmental regulations, Trump might dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal body in the U.S. with the most power to tackle environmental issues and act on climate change. Under his administration, the U.S. could also withdraw from the Paris Agreement, which Trump did back in 2017 during his first term.

Even one of the most progressive regions in terms of environmental policies is facing setbacks, as six EU countries—Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, Finland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic—are now governed by hard-right parties.

In Argentina, right-wing President Javier Milei withdrew the country’s delegation from the COP29 UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, signaling his administration's rejection of international climate cooperation.

In Canada, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has been vocal in his push to eliminate the carbon tax, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford continues his anti-environment agenda. He rejected the carbon tax and scrapped more than a hundred alternative energy projects, has pursued dirty gas to expand electricity production, eliminated the EV subsidy, continues to push a highway agenda and has replaced municipal planning control with provincially mandated land-use policies that promote harmful sprawl.  

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party have actively worked to weaken the province's climate policies. At their annual general meeting in November, UCP members voted to eliminate emissions reduction targets and even went so far as to officially recognize carbon dioxide as "a foundational nutrient for all life on Earth."

In an interview with The Pointer, University of Alberta Professor Emerita Laurie Adkin, who has closely observed the situation in Edmonton having lived in Alberta for many years, describes it as difficult. 

The province, she notes, tends to lean heavily conservative. Effective mobilization on the right around the protection of oil and gas sector jobs has recently helped push back gains by the left in the province that started more than a decade ago but have faltered since the pandemic.

The NDP’s failure to offer serious alternatives to the United Conservative Party's policies was a disappointment during the last election, she says, as many people who hoped for a platform focused on real reform were disheartened by the “NDP's weak proposals on economic and environmental issues.” The NDP at the federal level, she points out, has failed to formulate a strong official environmental policy. 

Last year the federal NDP revised its stance in April, downplaying carbon pricing as not the "be-all, end-all" and urging premiers to propose new ideas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, despite evidence that cap-and-trade remains the most effective approach for Canada.

The growing conservative movement across countries like Canada, the U.S., in Europe, India, and other democracies around the world has been a reaction to widening economic inequality and recent affordability crises witnessed globally.

Professor Adkin says the lack of communication and effort by the Liberals to educate people about the climate crisis, and to explain the need for measures like a cap on emissions in the oil and gas sector “mystifies” her. 

“There’s been almost no effort to educate the public, mobilize support, or address key questions like who pays for it and who benefits.”  

As a result, the Liberals have “left themselves vulnerable to a much more organized and effective right-wing opposition.” They’ve also failed to support civil society organizations, missing an opportunity to build a broader movement. “They shoot themselves in the feet all the time”.

In Ontario, Ford’s PC government has consistently ignored expert advice offering alternatives to his so-called “ambitious vision” for the province, which prioritizes the construction of more highways and the expansion of urban sprawl. These policies have created significant environmental consequences. The government has passed controversial laws such as Bill 212, which removes bike lanes and strips Ontarians of their right to challenge infrastructure projects in court—especially those whose properties lie in the path of Highway 413. The construction of Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass has also been exempted from provincial environmental impact assessments, effectively bypassing important safeguards and ignoring potential environmental damage.

Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner is one of the few MPPs pushing for stronger climate action and has been a vocal opponent of both Highway 413 and the proposed blasting quarry in Caledon. Schreiner told The Pointer he is “deeply concerned” over the government’s "backtracking on climate policy" even when the “impact of the climate crisis is starting to hit us in a real way” with the frequent, severe flooding events as well as forest fires across the province.

Despite his concerns, Schreiner remains optimistic about the role of market forces in driving climate solutions. He highlighted the growing popularity of heat pumps, a more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional heating and cooling systems, as a promising example of how innovation and consumer demand can help advance the transition to a greener economy.

“I think investments are going to be made in a green transition, regardless of what governments do. The challenge is that hostile governments are going to slow those market forces down at a time when we need to be accelerating the green transition,” he said.

Greenpeace Canada’s senior energy strategist, Keith Stewart, told The Pointer that the rise of right-wing populism in Canada is closely tied to the oil and gas industry. 

As the global energy transition advances, alternatives to fossil fuels—such as cheaper wind and solar power, electric vehicles, and energy-efficient heat pumps—pose a direct threat to the oil and gas sector. In response, the industry has increasingly funded and supported right-wing populist movements, “which is why it's increasingly funding and supporting right-wing populism, particularly in Canada.”

The 2019 United We Roll convoy, which included Canada Action — a non-profit organization that supports Canada's natural resources industry — received a $100,000 payment from ARC Resources, a major oil and gas developer operating in Western Canada, according to disclosures filed with the Government of Canada.

A truck convoy in Ottawa was part of a protest against the Liberal government’s carbon tax.

(Wiki Commons)

Schreiner says it is imperative for public servants like himself to connect with people on a personal level. “If governments are in bed with these big fossil fuel companies at your expense, then why should Ontario subsidize a multi billion dollar gas company…when we have lower cost, cheaper alternatives?” 

At the global stage, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a supply chain crisis, which, combined with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, spiked global oil and gas prices. This, in turn, fueled inflation and economic insecurity, leaving people feeling financially squeezed due to the “gap between what they're being paid and their cost to live a decent life,” David Suzuki Foundation’s Senior Climate Policy Adviser Thomas Green, said, addressing one of the factors that has spurred the spread of right-wing movements which reject climate action.

“When people feel the status quo isn’t working, they become receptive to simplistic solutions that promise quick fixes.” 

These solutions, he says, often seem appealing in the short term but fail to address the long-term complexities of our interconnected societies and economies—solutions that, in the end, may be nothing more than "Buck-a-beer" policy which “may solve one problem, but it may create a whole series of other problems.”

As the world shifts to the right, progressive issues like the climate crisis are being weaponized by conservatives as negative campaign tools, shaping public perception.

Adkin says she’s noted that the Alberta government frequently labels civil disobedience as environmental terrorism, even when no harm or violence is involved.

“Governments also have to understand that if they consistently refuse essential measures for our survival, given the catastrophic threat of global warming, it’s not actually unreasonable for people to ask, 'What can we do to make our governments listen to us?,'” Adkins emphasized while highlighting the duality of democracies.

“In a system like ours, we don’t have a lot of options. We don’t have very democratic political institutions, which might sound surprising. People view Canada and a few other small countries in Europe as democracies, but the democracy is so hollowed out at this point that what we have now are periodic elections, which are already preengineered through the party funding system and the first-past-the-post system.”

But there’s another important consideration as seen in the the recent pro-Palestinian and anti-NATO protests in Quebec that turned violent. Adkin acknowledges that the protests themselves are usually for a good cause but “there are people who are attracted to these events who have nothing to do with the protest who are using it as a cover for looting or people who think smashing a window will send a stronger message than the rest of the demonstration.”

Green says with the American election of Donald Trump, it has become evident that there is a “shift to very anti-democratic forms of governance.” When traditional democracy fails to deliver, people often turn to alternative means to express their frustrations or resist oppression. Protest, by nature, involves trying new and different approaches, some of which succeed while others don’t, he explained.

Climate activists after throwing soup on a Van Gogh painting.

(Screengrab YouTube)

In 2022, some young climate activists threw soup at Vincent Van Gogh's famous 1888 work Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. “While it may seem jarring, the point was to draw attention, and also to get people to understand that climate change is basically throwing soup at quality of life and our opportunities around the world,” Green noted.

Adkin points out that the media often focuses on violence or vandalism, distracting from the core message of protests. 

She also notes that the biggest issue is that most major media outlets in Canada are owned by conservatives, which shapes public opinion against progressive causes. With limited access to mass media, progressives rely on social media, often billionaire-owned, or small independent outlets to get their message out.

“The media and the police need to do a better job” in distinguishing between the protest's organizers and message, and those who hijack the event for other motives. “Evidently, we’re seeing a lot more violence from the police than we are from protestors anyway,” she added.

While looking at strategies going forward, the climate justice movement needs to adapt by embracing a more populist approach—one that acknowledges concerns like housing affordability while also demonstrating how solutions to the climate crisis can address these broader issues, Stewart recommended.

Sierra Club Canada spokesperson Conor Curtis told The Pointer that having conversations is key to driving change, whether with neighbors, friends, or those who disagree with you. He suggests that canvassing, even outside of elections, can be a valuable tool for this.

"If you don't speak up and call out climate denial, you let it spread," he said. "The real danger of social media misinformation isn’t just spreading falsehoods—it silences those who care about climate change, making them feel powerless. The worst thing we can do right now is stay silent. We need to engage people, meet them where they’re at, and show them why this issue matters."

Bioethicist, environmentalist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, Kerry Bowman, emphasizes the importance of consumer movements, as well as political and social activism, stating, “If we wait for our politicians, our leaders, or corporations to make change, it’s not going to happen.

However, he cautions against a head-to-head, adversarial approach, warning that it could deepen cultural divides. "People are just going to label these individuals as 'woke' and irrational. I don’t think that will work," he adds.

Bowman also highlights that one of the strengths of the current environmental movement is its evidence-based approach, which plays a crucial role in holding governments accountable.

He encourages consumers to take action, noting that their involvement “will have a big effect.”

Similarly, Adkin urges a powerful combination of nonviolent civil disobedience and active voter engagement, calling on political parties and movements to shift the center left so that progressive votes don't go to waste.

“Leaders of mass movements have long called for nonviolent civil disobedience, and I support that approach.” However, “after decades of lobbying on climate action with little progress, it’s clear that mass civil disobedience is now needed” to challenge the forces driving economic growth and emissions. This must be nonviolent, with occupations or blockades seen as acts of resistance, not violence.

Recognizing that it’s a tough situation for activists as they keep pushing for change within the NDP, Liberal Party, and even battling against Conservatives, Adkins says “the political sphere cannot be ignored—it matters who gets elected and forms the government.”

Bowman says it is “very likely” that Canada gets a federal Conservative government this year. “It may not be as extreme as the U.S. but the conservatives will walk away from a lot of environmental initiatives.”

“We are at a critical point in history, where so much is at stake—both democracy and the environment,” he said. “It's time to figure out how to build strong coalitions and mobilize our resources effectively.” 

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