Same world, different worldviews: A comparative discourse analysis of climate change worldviews in European and African Union policies

Abstract: Climate change has become an increasingly political matter, shaping discursive debates over the different conceptualizations of climate action. Climate policies offer a glimpse of current discursive trends. This research analyzes climate policies by the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU), two Regional Organizations (RO). Both have recently published two comprehensive climate policies to guide their continent’s paths toward climate action: the EU’s Green Deal and the AU’s Climate Strategy. The documents serve as a case study for a discourse analysis. The aim is to understand what discourses do the two ROs present and through which climate change worldviews they conceptualize climate action. The importance lies in understanding how language shapes our interpretations of real-world action. The findings indicate that climate change problems in the EU policy are conceptualized as an issue of resource misallocation, which requires economic solutions. Similar discourses are also visible in the solutions presented by the AU’s policy. However, the AU focuses more on encouraging institutional cooperation across the continent, building on principles of climate justice and social rights. Both policies also focus on the need to rethink current unsustainable economic systems, with the EU opting for circular economy solutions to reduce resource extraction.