Comment and Environment

Populist gains in Euro elections don’t need to derail climate action

The anti-science stance of groups such as the Brexit party and Germany’s AfD is worrying – but populism and climate change denial need not go hand in hand

By Debora Mackenzie

23 May 2019

THIS week, 28 countries vote to elect representatives to the European Parliament for the next five years. The UK only came to the ballot box kicking and screaming, having voted three years ago to leave the European Union.

By the time you read this, the results may well be in. It is a safe bet that a wave of anger will have propelled populist, anti-establishment parties to gains across swathes of the continent.

That is a problem for the planet. Some of these parties hold views on climate change that make Donald Trump look like a well-informed moderate. France’s National…