Anti-environmentalism is on the rise but it’s full of contradictions

Anti-environmentalism is gaining ground. Attacks on the net zero goal and hostility to conservation measures and anti-pollution targets are becoming more common. And, as recent election results have shown, these tactics are reshaping politics in Britain and across the west.

- ALASTAIR BONNETT

Anti-environmentalism is a rejection of both environmental initiatives and activism. But despite its sudden rise and bold rhetoric, it is built on shaky foundations. The messages it offers are often contradictory and row against the tide of everyday experience.

Take the US president, Donald Trump. He dismantled many environmental protections in his last term of office, and is now removing those that are left — including support for research that even mentions the word climate. Yet he told a rally in Wisconsin in 2024: “I’m an environmentalist. I want clean air and clean water. Really clean water. Really clean air.”

Some of the contradictions of anti-environmentalism reflect its departure from traditional conservatism. Although routinely identified as “conservative,” the populist anti-green politics of Republicans in the US and Reform in the UK, along with the AfD in Germany and National Rally in France, represent a radical challenge to the ideals of continuity and conservation that were once at the heart of conservatism.

The Conservative Environment Network is an organization which pitches itself as an “independent forum for conservatives in the UK and around the world who support net zero, nature restoration and resource security.” Much of this network's work involves reminding people that important environmental protections, from America’s national parks to controls on pollution and climate change in Britain and elsewhere, were introduced by conservatives.

But few on the right appear to be listening. A populist tide is washing this conservative tradition away, despite the fact that support for environmental protection remains very popular.