A Foucauldian Approcach to Climate Change Discourse

Abstract: This thesis sheds light on the complexities of climate change discourse by applying Foucauldian discourse analysis to the Canadian 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. Through a six-step analysis process, the thesis intends to investigate the effects of discourse on the understanding of climate change and the consequences of constituting knowledge through discourse. The six-step process addresses discursive constructions, discourses, action orientation, positioning, practice, and subjectivity. Foucault’s theory of knowledge/power and discourse is used as a theoretical perspective for the thesis. The theoretical framework is applied to discuss how responsibility allocation may become problematic through the idea that knowledge allows its subject of it to become an object of underlying power structures. Thus, this discussion argues that social and economic development becomes prioritized over environmental preservation because of underlying political power structures. This is argued through Foucault’s theory of knowledge/power as a case of dominating and repressing language which ultimately produces knowledge. This allows knowledge to be an object of power. The discussion also illustrates that discourse has a profound effect on the allocation of responsibility for efficient environmental governance.