Australia and New Zealand: Fossil Fuels and Climate Mitigation Failings

Abstract

This chapter examines the contours of CCCM organizations in Australia and New Zealand. First, tracing the history of countermovement opposition in Australia, the chapter highlights that the country lagged in its commitments and implementing mechanisms to reduce GHG emissions. One undeniable reason is that coal mining had been central to the Australian political economy. During this time, various CCCM organizations would operationalize undertaking lobbying activities, conducting media outreach, and disseminating discourses of delay. Moreover, some of these CCCM organizations, like in the USA, held direct ties with fossil fuel companies. In doing so, these CCCM organizations would play an active role in impacting climate and environmental legislation from the Howard government in 1995 to Abbott’s reign as prime minister, where traditional denial would flourish. Following, it explores the several overlaps with New Zealand countermovement opposition, distinguishing how similar fringe campaigns rallied the public and political thought focused more specifically on the agribusiness sector.