The Interdisciplinary Observatory on Climate Change is releasing the latest edition of Cadernos do OIMC. Titled Understanding Climate Action Obstruction, the 21st volume of the series presents a Portuguese translation of the introductory chapter of the collection Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment (Oxford University Press, 2025), edited by J. Timmons Roberts (Brown University), Carlos R. S. Milani (UERJ), Jennifer Jacquet (University of Miami) and Christian Downie (Australian National University), translated by Prof. Milani, Director of the OIMC.
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Efforts to tackle climate change have generally been inadequate, as they have been undertaken without understanding the role of obstructionist groups determined to protect the global status quo based on fossil fuels. After summarising the thirteen chapters and presenting ten key conclusions from the volume, the authors also identified gaps in the research, including the role of banks, universities, trade unions, religious organisations, and the military in opposing climate action. They conclude the text with examples of actions that various groups are taking against climate obstruction, including journalists, policymakers, civil society organisations, academics, and legal professionals.
Published in English by Oxford University Press and available online free of charge on the publisher’s website, the book was developed within the framework of the Climate Social Science Network (CSSN), a research network integrated by the Observatory and linked to the Institute for Environment and Society at Brown University (USA). Created in 2020, the CSSN brings together social science researchers from various Western countries and some countries in the Global South with the aim of producing knowledge on different topics related to climate denial, geoengineering, and conflicts of interest between the fossil fuel industry and the pro-climate agenda.
Bringing together more than 100 climate obstruction experts from around the world, Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment systematically addresses the complex, organised, and well-funded set of actors who have actively opposed political efforts to address climate change. As climate action becomes more globalised, efforts to obstruct it have become more sophisticated, widespread, well-funded, and dangerous. Offering an unprecedented assessment of global climate obstruction, this volume deepens our understanding of efforts to delay or block climate change policies, pointing to potential actions to resist obstruction.
