Climate Change Scepticism - A qualitative study of Clexit and their arguments against the Paris Agreement and the European Union

Abstract

Climate change scepticism is a concept that refers to people or groups that mistrust, reject or question the mainstream view of the climate change threat. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to illuminate climate change scepticism by doing a qualitative analysis of the arguments by an organisation called Clexit. The study finds out that arguments most frequently used by Clexit are motivated by emotions and relate to a worry of economic downfall and supranational governments. Clexit want countries to leave the UN Paris Agreement and they are especially focused on the EU. The EU is, according to them, a growing supranational government that focuses on setting goals to hinder climate change to get their own agendas through. Although answers as to why climate change scepticism exists cannot be given, in this type of study, assumptions about organisations like Clexit and how the arguments by Clexit could be understood and classified, from previous theories and research, can be made. These assumptions conclude that culture and economy has great influence on people’s opinions and that the arguments are based on existing debates and issues that concern a great deal of people.