Think tank output as media input: a case study of transnational climate obstructionism

Transnational networks of neoliberal think tanks have invested time and resources in creating cross-country strategy mobility to oppose climate action. Building on strategy mobility research directed against renewable energy policy, we ask how think tank studies circulate in media outlets both within and across borders, and what role the media plays in the effort to shape the energy transition. We examine the role of a US-based think tank, the Institute for Energy Research (IER), which financed studies in several countries in an attempt to make the case that public investment in renewables was not efficient or effective, and used them to counter green policies in other countries, particularly in the USA. By examining 115 articles in media outlets in five countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, the USA), we show that these studies gained considerable transnational media traction in the USA and played an important role in creating opposition to President Obama’s climate policies in 2008–2009. In all but one country (Denmark), most media reporting amplified the studies’ messages. In line with recent research on the increasing transnational fragmentation of the public sphere, we find that right-wing media in particular presented a favorable treatment of the studies and generally did not question their methods or funding. By focusing on the transnational nexus between think tanks and media presence, we make an original contribution to the existing literature on critical policy mobility research, and show that climate obstructionism, in this manifestation of policy skepticism, was already very active in the 2000s.