Confronting Climate Obstruction: The Role of Civil Society and Non-State Actors

Abstract

Resistance to climate obstruction is gaining momentum globally as civil society attempts to hold powerful actors accountable for intentionally delaying the transformative action required for a climate-stable future. This volume defines climate obstruction as efforts intended to slow or block policies or actions on climate change that are commensurate with the current scientific consensus of what is necessary to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The previous chapter on litigation laid out ways in which the courts and governments are attempting to fight climate obstruction; in contrast, this chapter reviews the many efforts to confront climate obstruction outside legal systems, which encompass civil society and non–state actor strategies and tactics to expose, confront, and resist climate obstruction.