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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 2d

Has anyone else been dealing with some serious headline whiplash recently?

Even for those of us who follow #climate and #energy matters closely, it can be hard to know what the hell is going on!

So here's a thread to help climate communicators get a grip on how to deal with this 🧵

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · 7d

Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study

Politicians talk about being pragmatic on climate change to avoid hard decisions.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 14d

ICYM
#climatecrisis

Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

We found “pragmatism” is used by MPs:
- to promote incremental rather than transformative change
- to defend fossil fuel companies
- to sound sensible and scientific
- to protect a fragile political consensus
- and to dismiss “extreme” calls for a more rapid climate transition

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Will Yeates @wyeates.bsky.social · 19d

Revealed: ‘Corporate capture’ of UN aviation body by industry

Exclusive: Industry delegates outnumbered climate experts by 14 to one at recent ICAO meeting, thinktank says

buff.ly

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Giulio Mattioli @giuliomattioli.bsky.social · 22d

Interesting-looking new study finding that "the global aviation sector’s impact on global warming continues to increase even under the most ambitious mitigation scenarios" cell.com/one-earth/fu...

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE @lwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 21d

😊 Delighted to announce I'll be a Lead Author for ch.8 of @ipcc.bsky.social's Seventh Assessment Report, alongside 663 experts from 111 countries, as part of Working Group III.

Analysis by @carbonbrief.org shows increasing diversity of IPCC authorship: tinyurl.com/462pvby9

#IPCC #ClimateReport

IPCC concludes selection of authors for its Seventh Assessment Report — IPCC

www.ipcc.ch

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 20d

More Americans are very worried about climate change than are about crime.

@yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social

climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...

Top public worries in the U.S.

About three in ten Americans say they are “very worried” about global warming.

climatecommunication.yale.edu

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Flight Free UK @flightfreeuk.bsky.social · 28d

"Leaders across the political spectrum are protecting the fossil-fuel status quo at the very moment scientists warn we need rapid, transformative change." theconversation.com/politicians-...

Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study

Politicians talk about being pragmatic on climate change to avoid hard decisions.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 28d

Such a good @bankfieldbecky.bsky.social + @steveclimate.bsky.social paper here: examining how "climate pragmatism" has become a major part of the new lexicon of climate delay

Also see: "climate realism"

theconversation.com/politicians-...

Kemi Badenoch during a visit to the Port of Aberdeen on September 2. Alamy/PA/Paul Campbell
Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study
Published: September 5, 2025 3.28am AEST
Author
Steve Westlake
Lecturer, Environmental Psychology, University of Bath

Disclosure statement
Steve Westlake and co-researcher Rebecca Willis received funding from the Centre of Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) to conduct this research. CAST is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Westlake also received a post-doctoral fellowship from ESRC from 2023-2025.

Partners
University of Bath

University of Bath provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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DOI
https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.6p3mqms45

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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has described her plan to “maximise extraction” of the UK’s oil and gas from the North Sea as a “common sense” energy policy.

Politicians are using language like this increasingly often – calling themselves “pragmatic” on climate change and invoking “common sense”. It sounds reasonable, reassuring, and grownup – the opposite of “hysterical” campaigners or “unrealistic” targets.

But new research my colleagues and I conducted, calling on a decade of interviews with UK MPs, shows that political “pragmatism” is fast becoming a dangerous form of climate delay. By framing urgent action as “extreme” and steady-as-she-goes policies as “pragmatic”, leaders across the political spectrum are protecting the fossil-fuel status quo at the very moment scientists warn we need rapid, transformative change.

Badenoch’s latest intervention is a perfect example. She said “common sense” dictates that every drop of oil must be extracted from the North Sea, and that net zero by 2050 was a policy pushed by “bullies”. This came just a day after the UK Met Office declared summer 2025 as the hottest on record.

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · 28d

Thanks for the repost and kind words Ketan!

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 29d

"Climate pragmatism" in the UK; "climate realism" in the US: justifying the continuance of the fossil-fuel economy, either way.

Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

We found “pragmatism” is used by MPs:
- to promote incremental rather than transformative change
- to defend fossil fuel companies
- to sound sensible and scientific
- to protect a fragile political consensus
- and to dismiss “extreme” calls for a more rapid climate transition

3/

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · Sep 9

“The future isn’t something that happens to us, it’s something we build together. By choosing to act wisely today, we can navigate uncertainty and emerge stronger tomorrow.” - @laurielaybourn.bsky.social, @climate-risk.bsky.social

youtu.be/IkjsAQeomtQ

Positive Tipping Points: Overcoming Climate Instability

YouTube video by Thinking the Unthinkable

youtu.be

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 29d

Men will build giant floating walls to prevent warm water from reaching ice shelves, and scatter microbeads onto sea ice to increase its reflectivity before just stopping the burning of fossil fuels

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Polar 'geoengineering' won't fix climate warming, study finds

Proposed "geoengineering" projects designed to reduce the impacts of global warming in polar regions would be ineffective, extremely costly and environmentally dangerous, researchers have warned.

www.abc.net.au

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · 29d

Also big thanks for @stucap.bsky.social 🙏

Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · 29d

"pragmatic" climate delay - may be of interest @kevinclimate.bsky.social @jksteinberger.bsky.social @katharinehayhoe.com @carlymclachlan.bsky.social @aliceclimate.bsky.social @ericholthaus.com @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @giuliomattioli.bsky.social @doctorvive.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Federica Genovese @fgenovese.bsky.social · Sep 8

Interesting take on the new politics of climate pragmatism that matches the emerging paradigm of climate realism around the world

cc @jeffcolgan.bsky.social

Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

Happy to share our new research on UK climate politics 🚨

We found Members of Parliament (MPs) use the language of climate "pragmatism" to avoid rapid change. It risks becoming a new discourse of delay.

More detail below and in 🧵

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theconversation.com/politicians-...

Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study

Politicians talk about being pragmatic on climate change to avoid hard decisions.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) @cast-centre.bsky.social · Sep 8

In an article for The Conversation UK (@uk.theconversation.com), CAST affiliate Dr Steve Westlake (@steveclimate.bsky.social) discusses new research which "shows that political “pragmatism” is fast becoming a dangerous form of climate delay".

Read the article 👇

Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study

Politicians talk about being pragmatic on climate change to avoid hard decisions.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Annie Leymarie @annieleymarie.bsky.social · Sep 8

"By framing urgent action as 'extreme' and steady-as-she-goes policies as 'pragmatic', leaders across the political spectrum are protecting the fossil-fuel status quo at the very moment scientists warn we need rapid, transformative change."

Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

Happy to share our new research on UK climate politics 🚨

We found Members of Parliament (MPs) use the language of climate "pragmatism" to avoid rapid change. It risks becoming a new discourse of delay.

More detail below and in 🧵

1/
theconversation.com/politicians-...

Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study

Politicians talk about being pragmatic on climate change to avoid hard decisions.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Dr Steve Westlake

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · Sep 8

"The projection of unequal outcomes across scenarios... is a matter of serious concern, especially when scenario results are directly used as inputs for #climate policy...

we need to move towards model &scenario building techniques where questions of equity &climate justice come to the foreground"

Equity assessment of global mitigation pathways in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

This paper analyses 556 model scenarios assessed by IPCC’s Working Group-III for the 6th Assessment Report, which have an underlying 10-region classification and correspond to restricting warming l...

www.tandfonline.com

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

@cast-centre.bsky.social tagged properly!

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

Thanks again to co-author Rebecca Willis @bankfieldbecky.bsky.social and The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) for funding our research @cast-centre.bsky.social

Access it here... 🙏https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-025-03987-4

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

Crucially, the language of pragmatism should be called out when it is used to promote climate delay. Climate breakdown is not a pragmatic choice.

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

Second, politicians often underestimate the true level of public support for climate policies. Closing this gap is essential for making faster climate mitigation the pragmatic choice. @climatebarometer.bsky.social does excellent work on this.

climatebarometer.org/new-public-p...

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New public polling: Behind the noise on net zero - Climate Barometer

climatebarometer.org

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

So what can be done?

First, many MPs still base their arguments on science, so there is scope to increase their grasp of the scientific urgency. The CCC @thecccuk.bsky.social could have an important part to play here because trust in the CCC is high among MPs.

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Dr Steve Westlake @steveclimate.bsky.social · Sep 5

Pragmatic climate delay can go something like this:

"Yes we need urgent climate action. We trust the science. But we have to be pragmatic. So we can't have *this* urgent climate action, or *this* policy."

Many may even do this in good faith, trying to navigate a tricky political path.

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a man in a white jacket is riding a yamaha atv through the woods

ALT: a man in a white jacket is riding a yamaha atv through the woods

media.tenor.com

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