Based on the key findings published in the collection Climate Obstruction: The Global Assessment (Oxford University Press, 2025), edited by the director of the OIMC with fellow members of the Climate Social Sciences Network (CSSN), the lecture aims to provide a conceptual framework for understanding climate obstruction: a complex, organised and well-funded set of intentional actions that actively resist and undermine political efforts to address anthropogenic climate change. Although a considerable body of scientific research has established, with a nearly 99% consensus across publications, that the destabilisation of the Earth’s climate is occurring due to human action and will worsen if humanity does not promote profound and rapid transitions in current models of development, societies, governments and economic actors have failed to respond to the challenge at hand. In this lecture, Carlos Milani argues that the current inaction is due to obstructionist behaviour, including the role and effects of the media in spreading misinformation and erroneous information about the climate, which affects public opinion regarding the urgency of climate action.