Strategic Framing of Climate Change by Industry Actors: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

This study uses framing theory to analyze 38 studies on industry actors' climate change communication between 1990 and 2010. It identifies three consecutive phases, each characterized by one dominant master frame: in the early and mid-1990s the US fossil fuel and coal industry pushed the frame of scientific uncertainty. With the rundown to the Kyoto negotiations in 1997, the strategy shifted toward the socioeconomic consequences of mandatory emission reductions, particularly in the USA and Australia. At the same time, European industry actors started to promote industrial leadership in a climate protection, which today dominates across all the world regions. The study discusses potential triggers for the regional differences as well as the implications for further research

Understanding and applying principles of social cognition and decision making in adaptive environmental governance

“…According to Gallup polls, the public generally agreed with the scientific community's concern for climate change in 1997 but began to diverge along conservative versus liberal political party lines in 2001, creating a large bipartisan gap (Dunlap and McCright 2010). This pattern coincides with documented political lobbying and financial support from opposition leaders in major oil and gas companies, religious groups, and powerful conservatives (Schlichting 2013, Stoknes 2014, Farrell 2016. Hence, political affiliation (in-group bias) now reliably predicts support for environmental policy innovation (e.g., Gromet et al 2013).…”

“…For example, conservative political leaders routinely frame environmental policies negatively, preying on the public's cognitive biases. They pit environmental responsibility against economic security, strategically portraying climate change adaptation as a loss, for example: sustainability versus jobs (Schlichting 2013). They use emotional labels like "the war on coal" (McGinley 2011, Smith 2012 to frighten and anger their social supporters, strategically mobilizing them against climate change policy (see Edelman 1960, Bauer andGaskell 2008 generally).…”

Strategies for Climate Change and Impression Management: A Case Study Among Canada’s Large Industrial Emitters

“…In particular, they challenged the findings of climate science and emphasized the potentially disastrous economic consequences of policies to be adopted in this area. European companies were generally much more receptive to regulations and more willing to invest in green technologies (Jones and Levy 2007;Levy and Egan 2003;Schlichting 2013). Levy and Egan (2003) have analyzed the war of position that companies in the oil and automotive sectors engage in to influence climate regulations.…”

Klimawandel in den Medien

“…In führenden US-Zeitungen kamen die Fundamentalkritiker in den 1990er-Jahren fast in jedem zweiten Artikel zu Wort (Boykoff und Boykoff 2004). Angesichts des sehr breiten Konsenses der Wissenschaft über die Grundannahmen des Klimawandels (Oreskes 2004;Anderegg et al 2010) erweckten die Medien somit den falschen Eindruck einer offenen Debatte und einer großen Unsicherheit ("uncertainty frame") über die grundlegenden Annahmen der Klimawissenschaft (Antilla 2005;Painter 2013;Schlichting 2013;Shehata und Hopmann 2012;Zehr 2000). Eine weitere Spielart, die Notwendigkeit politischen Handelns abzustreiten, besteht in der Betonung negativer wirtschaftlicher Konsequenzen bei Einschränkung von Emissionen ("eco nomic-consequences frame") (Schlichting 2013;Shehata und Hopmann 2012;Grundmann 2007).…”

“…Nachdem aktuelle Analysen zeigen, dass die Leugnung des Klimawandels in vielen Ländern zur Randerscheinung wird (Painter und Ashe 2012), bleibt interessant, welche neuen Frames den alten Unsicherheitsframe beerben werden: In den PR-Strategien von Unternehmen zeigt sich das Motiv der Selbstverpflichtung einer ökologisch engagierten Industrie (Schlichting 2013). Frames zukünftiger Berichterstattungen zeigen sich mög-licherweise auch in kognitiven Frames, also den Vorstellungen von Journalisten, die in einer aktuellen Befragung exploriert wurden (Engesser und Brüggemann 2015): Technikoptimismus erweist sich als ein bisher in Inhaltsanalysen vernachlässigter Frame, der auf alte und neue Technologien (Atomkraft, "carbon capture" und "carbon storage" u.…”