Climate Social Science Network
@cssn.org
A global network of social scientists focused on political conflicts around climate change, headquartered at Brown University. https://cssn.org/
Findings from the @climateintegrity.org show that gas companies have known their impact for decades. Natural gas being touted as the 'climate solution' is a large part of the industry's success. See the full report below. climateintegrity.org/projects/nat...
The Fraud of “Clean” Natural Gas | Center for Climate Integrity
How Big Oil and Gas Created the Myth that Natural Gas is a Climate Solution
climateintegrity.org
Sign up to our newsletter below and get the latest digest of climate obstruction related work! If you are interested in mis-/disinformation, greenwashing, corporate capture, litigation and more, then join over 1500 people in receiving our monthly newsletter. cssn.org/about-us/sub...
Important work, and a valuable collaboration with @tcij.org!
The Centre for Investigative Journalism@tcij.org · 2w agoA busy few summer weeks for our Open Climate Reporting Initiative #OCRI as we continue to ramp up engagements with journalists, scholars and the public. Catch up here: tcij.org/ocri-announc... /1
When lies are proffered as truth, and the purpose of governing is self-enrichment and aggrandizement of the Dear Leader & Co at the expense of the governed, it makes perfect sense to select a climate denier to lead the government agency responsible for overseeing the National Climate Assessment.
New Leader of Major US Climate Program Doesn’t Believe the Science
Trump just put a climate denier in charge of overseeing a key report.
open.substack.com
This is a big deal. www.desmog.com/2026/07/20/h...
How Big Oil Spent Decades Selling the Myth of ‘Clean’ Natural Gas
A new report reveals oil and gas companies knew as early as the mid-1970s that methane fueled climate change while launching massive PR campaigns to promote natural gas as clean energy.
desmog.com
Land use and agriculture rule much of Brazil's environmental policy. Scholars and CSSN members Daniela Campello et. al. observe how the government operates within Brazil’s Agribusiness Caucus (FPA). They find shocking anti-environment results. See their findings: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Green rhetoric, anti-environmental voting: legislative behavior in Brazil’s agribusiness caucus
Do international market pressures reshape domestic climate politics, or do they merely induce rhetorical adaptation? While climate politics in advanced economies centers on fossil fuels, Brazil pre...
tandfonline.com
much agreement with this 🧵 but pol science has clearly shown that ideologically opposition to clean energy is a direct function of political efforts in fossil fuels sectors and constituencies to generate such ideology. So no, fossil lobbying for their interests and culture wars are not separate.
Zeke Hausfather@zekehausfather.com · 4w agoWhile I agree with Bill that the fossil fuel lobby paid for a lot of climate denial in previous decades, I see ideological opposition to clean energy (and climate action) as a much bigger barrier to progress today than fossil lobbyists.
See their piece in the @ucs.org blog: blog.ucs.org/delta-merner...
Scope 3 on Trial: What it Means For Corporate Climate Accountability
This piece was co-authored with Joana Setzer, Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and co-published on July 6, 2026. In May 2026, the Supr...
blog.ucs.org
Climate Social Science Network @cssn.org · 4w agoImportant work from Delta Merner and Joana Setzer - see some of the key questions facing courts, and where the conversations of corporate climate accountability are going. www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...
So many important details in here of how SPN think tanks connect and influence policy energyandpolicy.org/man-who-kill...
‘Man who killed offshore wind’ now pushing fossil fuels and nuclear for Koch-funded Mackinac Center in Michigan
David Stevenson, who led a national campaign against offshore wind power for the Delaware-based Caesar Rodney Institute, is now fighting land-based solar and wind farms and promoting fossil fuels and ...
energyandpolicy.org
In case you missed it: Exxon's executive counsel is leaving the company to join the U.S. DOJ's newly renamed Energy & Natural Resources division, which lists blocking climate lawsuits against oil and gas majors as a priority. 🫠🫠
E&E News: Exxon lawyer to join DOJ energy division
Robert Levy, executive counsel at the oil company, will retire from his role and join the federal government later this month.
subscriber.politicopro.com
I was presenting work on the greenwashing assessment framework, authored by me and colleagues at the Spinning Climate Change Working Group at @cssn.org
Important work from Delta Merner and Joana Setzer - see some of the key questions facing courts, and where the conversations of corporate climate accountability are going. www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...
Scope 3 on trial: what it means for corporate climate accountability - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment
Joana Setzer and Delta Merner discuss their new research examining how courts around the world are approaching corporate climate accountability.
lse.ac.uk
They (Big Oil) drill (their nefarious messages & view of the world) into our brains in countless ways. That academics & university’s have unintentionally aided & abetted them is not surprising but it is disappointing and it shows who outsmarted whom. @gchalliance.bsky.social
Amy Westervelt@amywestervelt.bsky.social · last mo.Today, we launch a series @drilledmedia.bsky.social has been working on w/ @propublica.org for almost two years, looking at how Big Oil used universities to turn the plan to solve climate change into a plan to save itself. The first two stories are out now: projects.propublica.org/carbon-captu...
Congratulations to @timmonsroberts.bsky.social and colleagues for this wonderful book and for ensuring everyone can read it for free. Everyone has the right to know how fuel fuel CEOs, lobbyists, and spin doctors have deceived us and gambled with our lives and all life on earth out of sheer greed.
Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment
Abstract. Climate obstruction involves intentional actions and efforts to slow or block policies on climate change that are commensurate with the current s
academic.oup.com
Out today! @joshuabasseches.bsky.social investigates how energy and utility companies have worked to move local politics towards corporate profitability, as well as the growth of their influence over and access to widespread "renewable portfolio standard" laws. mitpress.mit.edu/978026205358...
Owning the Green Grid
Historically (and for the foreseeable future), most public policy action in the United States to combat the global climate crisis has taken place at the stat...
mitpress.mit.edu
@academic.oup.com's 500th #openaccess book! “Open access allowed us to publicize our two assessment volumes on obstruction of climate action broadly and quickly, and to make it available all over the world at once," @timmonsroberts.bsky.social, editor. corp.oup.com/news/publish...
Publishing our 500th open access book - Oxford University Press
Our 500th open access book underscores the dedication of our authors and editors in advancing open scholarship to support a more inclusive, collaborative community.
corp.oup.com
The capture of early-career academics, the co-option of "sustainability," and more: what does beef's influence over academia look like? See Dr. Vasile Stănescu's article published today in @oxfordunipress.bsky.social academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Becoming Part of the Family: Greenwashing, Animal Agriculture, and the Strategic Capture of Climate Research
Abstract. A large and growing body of research affirms the severe climate impacts of animal agriculture. Yet rather than undertake structural change, the i
academic.oup.com
Postdoc opportunity 📢 IBES seeks candidates for distinguished Voss Postdoctoral Fellows in any field relevant to environmental research. Appointments start July 2027 with an expected term of two years. Submit step-one proposals by Sept 1! ibes.brown.edu/opportunitie...
"As much as inaction on climate gets framed as lack of science or perhaps the wrong messaging framework, it's important to remember that we're here because of acts of sabotage." Now enjoying last fall's podcast series by @amywestervelt.bsky.social about the @cssn.org book on climate obstruction.
Drilled@drilledmedia.bsky.social · 11mo agoToday on the podcast, @amywestervelt.bsky.social digs into another chapter of the great @cssn.org book on global climate obstruction, focused on the role rightwing populism plays in climate obstruction. Welcome to the Rapture, people! drilled.media/podcasts/dri...
Last day to submit your proposal to CSSN's RFP!
Climate Social Science Network @cssn.org · 4mo agoACCEPTING PROPOSALS📣 Excited to announce that we have seed grant funding available for this coming year. We will be prioritizing proposals on climate obstruction in the agricultural sector, and will award a limited amount for other topics of climate obstruction research. cssn.org/grants/reque...
Nationalism as a tool of climate obstruction: This review identifies four forms—resource nationalism, energy nationalism, techno-nationalism, and fossil fascism—and shows how they can delay, divert, or undermine effective climate action. See the full paper here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/pol...
Join us at 11am EST today, as Dr. Dale Jamieson will speak on climate ethics, creating meaningful work in new academic subfields, and more. Register here: brown.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: CSSN Conference - Keynote with Dale Jamieson. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
We are pleased to host Dale Jamieson, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Philosophy at New York University, to speak on climate ethics. For more information on the work that Dr. Jamieson ...
brown.zoom.us
Tomorrow! Join us for a presentation and a discussion to follow.
Climate Social Science Network @cssn.org · 3mo agoHow do we make our academic work make a difference? What does knowledge production look like when it is being threatened from outside forces? Thrilled to share that NYU's Dr. Dale Jamieson will be this year's keynote speaker for our upcoming online annual conference. Register here: bit.ly/4tcdBFe
Looking back at a foundational article from our working group focused on Nationalism and Climate Obstruction: academic.oup.com/oocc/article... This piece explores “green nationalism,” and asks what its role can be in shaping policies, despite pushback: is it a path forward, or a hinderance?
Green promises, gray realities: nationalism between climate action and obstruction
Abstract. This article examines the intersection of climate obstruction and “green nationalism,” exploring whether the latter can act as a tool against the
academic.oup.com
One week away! Mark your calendars for a talk and discussion on climate ethics, and what climate scholarship means in this current moment. bit.ly/4tcdBFe
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: CSSN Conference - Keynote with Dale Jamieson. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
We are pleased to host Dale Jamieson, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Philosophy at New York University, to speak on climate ethics. For more information on the work that Dr. Jamieson ...
bit.ly
Climate Social Science Network @cssn.org · 3mo agoHow do we make our academic work make a difference? What does knowledge production look like when it is being threatened from outside forces? Thrilled to share that NYU's Dr. Dale Jamieson will be this year's keynote speaker for our upcoming online annual conference. Register here: bit.ly/4tcdBFe
University policies are failing to protect against fossil fuel influence on academic research, harkening back to the days of Big Tobacco’s disinformation on campus. CSSN scholars and colleagues, C. Ceccon, @truzaar.bsky.social, and @jenniecstephens.bsky.social's study is in Climatic Change today!
CAAD_Coalition@caadcoalition.bsky.social · 3mo agoWhat would you do with over $1 billion dollars? That’s how much Big Carbon spent on universities since 2010 to shape climate research and “reinforce denialist narratives.” Yet out of 39 University funding policies, only 3 mention fossil fuel companies directly, a new study shows.
How do we make our academic work make a difference? What does knowledge production look like when it is being threatened from outside forces? Thrilled to share that NYU's Dr. Dale Jamieson will be this year's keynote speaker for our upcoming online annual conference. Register here: bit.ly/4tcdBFe
"We argue that inertia is not merely passive but actively maintained by those with institutional power." See this sweeping look at climate obstruction and inaction in Australia by CSSN members Vanessa Bowden, Daniel Nyberg, and @chriswrightau.bsky.social. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Obstructing change: political inertia and the maintenance of climate inaction in Australia
Despite widespread public concern and mounting climate impacts, Australia’s climate policy remains stalled. This paper investigates how political, industrial, and environmental actors narrate clima...
tandfonline.com
Researchers find that 98% of recent environmental claims by major meat and dairy companies can be characterized as greenwashing. See M. Bach, L. Loy, @katharinemach.bsky.social, S. Shukla McDermid, and J. Jacquet's full study below. journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
Environmental claims, climate promises, and ‘greenwashing’ by meat and dairy companies
Animal agriculture has disproportionate environmental impacts relative to other forms of food production and accounts for at least 16.5% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Many of the large...
journals.plos.org
An exciting event to look out for this weekend at the energy transition conference in Colombia. The event will feature experts on climate obstruction, and will offer strategies for a just energy transition. See the link for more information and how to attend!
Guy Edwards@guywhedwards.bsky.social · 4mo agoÚnete a nuestro diálogo en la Universidad del Magdalena organizado por @cssn.org y el OIMC sobre los actores en Argentina, Brasil y Colombia que obstaculizan la transición energética y conversa con expertos que están trabajando para enfrentarlos. #MásAlláDeLosCombustiblesFósiles 🧵
