How to deliberate with people who believe in climate and energy conspiracy theories

An explorative study for the TU Delft Energy Transition Lab.

Report (2021)

Authors

A.V. Itten Organisation & Governance - TPM
S. van Cranenburgh Transport and Logistics - TPM
Research Group
Organisation & Governance (TPM) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2021 A.V. Itten, S. van Cranenburgh
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Published Date

2021

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Department

Multi Actor Systems

Research Group

Organisation & Governance

Abstract

Conspiracy theories on climate change and the energy transition have found a stronghold on the Internet. Many online discussions are dominated by a few users with extreme beliefs, such as attributing secret agendas to powerful elites, governments not telling the truth, or sinister intentions of activists and lobbyists. As such beliefs largely dominate online discussions, they do also disadvantages other, more average, and less vocal users. Studies have found that people who were exposed to conspiracy theories about climate change reported less intention to reduce their carbon footprint, because the effect of these theories sparked not only feelings of powerlessness and uncertainty towards climate change, but also feelings of disappointment in climate scientists. Conspiracy theories play thus also an increasing role in slowing down the energy transition and have even led to violent and destructive behaviour. This explorative study provides an overview of the occurrence of extreme beliefs regarding climate change and energy transition.