Countering the Climate Change Counter Movement: Six lessons from Canada's climate delays

The global transition away from fossil fuels is dangerously delayed. While climate delays are a complex issue, the fossil-fuel funded Climate Change Counter Movement represents a key culprit that is worthy of greater attention than it receives. As such, this article uses Canada as a case study to highlight the Movement's role in delaying climate action in the West, and to suggest six strategies to counteract their influence. We collate evidence demonstrating the Climate Change Counter Movement's influence over the Canadian state, its economy and its people, and directly linking elite members of the Movement to post-truth narratives that deny the reality of climate change, and delay climate policy. Concerningly, we also find evidence that these “climate delay discourses” can rapidly evolve to exploit new contexts and cultures, and are already being repeated by unassociated members of the general public. In order to spur action against the Climate Change Counter Movement, we combine insights from our case study with a narrative review of international research to suggest six strategies to counteract their influence, alongside associated directions for future research. These strategies would see climate policy advocates: reflect upon their own position; develop knowledge of the Climate Change Counter Movement's actions; use that knowledge to hold them legally accountable for those actions; reverse the effects they have already had on the general population; push “passively supported” policies to advance climate action even when public appetites are low; and challenge the economic and cultural roots of the Climate Change Counter Movement's power.