From stealth to pragmatism: A telling shift in UK politicians’ views on climate action
A new paper from Rebecca Willis and Steve Westlake has been published in Climatic Change taking stock on how MPs now think of climate – no longer an ‘outsider issue’, but advocated for in general terms. These terms, however, raise concerns about the pace of change, the impact on people’s lives, and warn of increased polarisation and opposition. In this paper, Willis and Westlake describe how narratives of “pragmatism” are used by politicians to protect a fragile political consensus, to promote incremental rather than transformative change, to defend fossil fuel companies, and to dismiss “extreme” calls for a more rapid climate transition. The evidence here suggests the political language of pragmatism may become a key component of climate delay and non-transformative solutions.
Read more in the open-access article here:
From stealth to pragmatism: A telling shift in UK politicians’ views on climate action, Westlake, S., Willis, R., Climatic Change 178, 162 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03987-4
