The REAL Reason Climate Deniers Are Voting Reform | Bob Ward

Bob Ward is Policy and Communications Director at the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment who started out as a science reporter at the Daily Telegraph, and one of the few people willing to take on climate sceptics in public, from debating Nigel Farage on GB News to addressing oil and gas executives at International Petroleum Week.

In this conversation, Bob explains why he thinks climate has become a culture war that leaves everyone stuck, why many sceptical arguments about the science are really proxies for fears about government regulation or daily life, and why he separates bad faith actors from people who have simply been misled. We get into the Frank Luntz memo, the shift from denial to delay and the rise of the “lukewarmers”, how climate got caught up in the culture war, and why Bob believes dropping the phrase “net zero” would be a mistake. We also cover the “less than 1% of emissions” argument, why the message of sacrifice doesn’t sell, what a warming climate could cost the UK economy, and why the insurance industry is so alarmed.

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Bob’s LSE Grantham Climate Institute (inc. all research, media and policy) https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/profile/bob-ward/

Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/

And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/

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Chapters

0:00 Who is winning the climate culture war? 3:11 Why are culture wars bad? 6:09 Who is the villain? 12:14 Does debating sceptics actually change minds? 14:35 The memo that changed science denial forever 16:31 Should you share a stage with bad faith arguments? 20:06 Being right doesn’t win arguments 25:20 From “it’s not happening” to “just grow wine” 33:41 How the UK caught the US culture war 40:36 Should we stop using the phrase ‘Net Zero’? 44:29 “The UK is less than 1% of emissions” 49:38 Have we really failed to bring the public along? 56:20 Is consuming less the answer? 1:00:49 Is flying worth it? 1:05:39 What climate change could cost the UK economy 1:10:51 Why the insurance industry is sounding the alarm 1:15:12 Why you rarely meet a CEO who denies the science 1:18:35 The question Bob is sick of being asked 1:22:10 What Bob wishes more people would ask him