Make Fossil Fuels Great Again? The Paris Agreement, Trump, and the USFossil Fuel Industry

Lukas Hermwille and Lisa Sanderink

Global Environmental Politics, 2019, vol. 19, issue 4, 45-62

Abstract: Theoretical advances suggest that international governance in general and theParis Agreement in particular provide a strong signal guiding sociotechnicalsystems toward decarbonization. We assess this signal and its effectsempirically, by examining the struggle of competing narratives as present in thecommunications of leading US fossil fuel industry associations and companies.The results are then discussed in the context of the national and internationalclimate and energy policy debates in a study period from late 2014 until theannouncement of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in June 2017. We find thatthe Paris Agreement has institutionalized a narrative paradigm that issurprisingly resilient. While the election of Donald Trump and his climate andenergy policy led to a narrative shift in the coal industry, the oil and gasindustry remained conspicuously silent in its immediate response and maintainedits narrative strategies despite its alignment with the Paris Agreement.

Date: 2019
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