Strategic climate change communication - The European Wind Energy Association in a discourse strategy trap

Abstract: Climate scientists argue that the world’s increasing CO2 emissions are damaging for humans and the planet. If this is true, then how come governments are not rushing to provide sufficient incentives for a fast transition into renewable energy? The thesis proposes an explanation by focusing on included and excluded discourses in the EU climate and energy debate. The research is based on a case study of The European Wind Energy Association’s strategic communication. From a systems theory perspective, the thesis advances that the association actively tailors and conforms to the prevailing discourse of neoliberalism. In doing so, the study suggests that the association becomes an advocator for maintaining the socio-economic status-quo and not an advocator for change. The thesis proposes that this traps the actor’s communication in a discursive space where the necessary societal changes for a full transition into renewable energy becomes difficult to discuss.