Climate Change at the Center
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Climate Change at the Center The Public Communication of CICERO Center for International Climate Research Hedda Susanne Molland Master thesis in Culture, Environment and Sustainability Centre for Development and Environment UNIVERSITY OF OSLO 30.11.2017 © Hedda Susanne Molland 2017 Climate Change at the Center: The Public Communication of CICERO Center for International Climate Research http://www.duo.uio.no/ Print: Reprosentralen, University of Oslo II Abstract This a study of how the researchers and staff of CICERO – Center for International Climate Research in Norway, participated in public discourse as expert commentators on the UNFCCC climate negotiations and the reality of anthropogenic climate change. In the Norwegian context CICERO is a visible actor in public discourse on climate change. Furthermore, climate researchers and research organizations such as CICERO produce information essential for how we address climate change. With a foundation in research that offers the Center epistemic authority, the Center has both power and responsibility. I discuss the roles of CICERO and how people at the Center communicated boundaries and connections between the Center, the climate research community, the Center’s lay audience, civil society and politics. Framed by the history of CICERO and climate research, the main part of my study is a critical discourse analysis of CICERO’s public communications, i.e. popular articles, op-eds and interviews, in the time of the Conference of the Parties 15 in 2009, and the Conference of the Parties 21 in 2015. I find that the Center strongly identified with the climate research community. However, the Center also presented a willingness to collaborate with government and international political decision-makers, as long as the Center perceived these groups to be ready to address climate change. Furthermore, CICERO represented state leaders and other political decision-makers as the most important actors in the face of climate change. Civil society, conversely, was mostly left out of the Center’s commentary, apart from a few references and a temporary willingness to debate climate skeptics in 2009. Thus, the Center made civil society appear irrelevant for climate research and for how we address climate change, apart from as an extension of government-led initiatives. I also find that CICERO presented an ambivalent attitude towards their lay audience who were largely represented as passive recipients of information, which further served to underscore the passivity of civil society. The analytical traditions that informed my analysis are intellectual history as well as the overlapping fields of science and technology studies and the public communication of science and technology. My primary methodology was critical discourse analysis. For background information I performed semi-structured, open-ended interviews with seven people at CICERO. III Acknowledgements When a group of politicians name a research center CICERO, you almost expect there to be a pun somewhere. In what way does contemporary climate research resemble a Roman orator? I will not answer this question here, but will say that there is indeed a subtle pun to be found for the reader of this thesis. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my informants at CICERO, and especially Christian Bjørnæs who assisted me on multiple occasions. Though there is some criticism to be found in this thesis, I would like to underscore my appreciation of work you do and the time you all took out of your busy schedules to answer my questions. I would like to thank my supervisor, Nina Witoszek, whose sharp pen and extensive knowledge have guided my work. I would also like to thank all the other helpful people at SUM and especially Anne-Line Sandåker and Gudrun C.E. Helland, for showing me that it is possible to feel even more at home at the University of Oslo, than I already did. Moreover I would like to thank Helge Jordheim, Einar Wigen and other people in the Synchronizing the World project at the University of Oslo. Though the project did not relate directly to my research, I am ever grateful for your suggestions and enthusiasm for me and my studies, and for giving me the opportunity to work with such inspiring scholars. In that regard, I would also thank the Science Studies Colloquium at the University of Oslo for granting me a scholarship. In addition, I thank my parents, for their bright insights and faith in me, and the rest of my family for tolerating both my absence and my enthusiasm for things far from their minds. On that note, I want to thank Jenny for a forever friendship, Anita for helping me keep all the pieces together, Guro for listening to my rants and giving some much needed advice on a few chapters, and Ravn for being the best climbing buddy. In conclusion, I want to thank my partner, Henrik, for being rock solid and for reminding me how to be silly when I forget. IV Table of contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. IV List of figures ........................................................................................................................ VIII List of abbreviations and acronyms ......................................................................................... IX 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 My rationale: Why a climate research center? ............................................................ 2 1.2 Objective and research questions ................................................................................ 3 1.3 The context of my analysis .......................................................................................... 5 1.4 A roadmap: Overview of this thesis ............................................................................ 7 2 Literature review, analytical framework and methodology ............................................... 8 2.1 Literature review: Climate research in society & communication across boundaries 8 2.2 Analytical framework ................................................................................................ 13 2.2.1 Boundaries, connections, actors and practices ................................................... 15 2.3 Methodology .............................................................................................................. 24 2.3.1 Discussion of methodology ................................................................................ 24 2.3.2 The material and its collection ........................................................................... 28 2.3.3 Reliability, validity, limitations and generalizability ......................................... 30 2.3.4 Ethical considerations ........................................................................................ 32 3 The history of climate research with CICERO in focus ................................................... 33 3.1 Before CICERO ......................................................................................................... 34 3.2 The first few years ..................................................................................................... 37 3.3 Towards the 2000s ..................................................................................................... 41 3.4 A new CEO and ongoing climate negotiations ......................................................... 43 3.5 COP 15 and “Climategate” – from optimism to uncertainty ..................................... 46 3.6 New CEOs and a new global agreement ................................................................... 48 3.7 Concluding remarks: Research and policy – friends out of necessity? ..................... 53 4 In 2009: A “Circus” in Denmark and Confrontations in Norway .................................... 55 4.1 Overview ................................................................................................................... 55 4.2 The presence, platforms and public expertise of CICERO in November and December 2009 .................................................................................................................... 55 4.3 A “Circus” in Denmark: CICERO’s commentary on COP 15 in 2009 ..................... 58 4.3.1 Preparing for failure? CICERO and COP 15 ..................................................... 58 4.3.2 Analysis of CICERO’s take on COP 15 in 2009 ............................................... 59 V 4.4 Confrontations, consensus and credibility ................................................................. 69 4.4.1 CICERO and climate skeptics in 2009 ............................................................... 69 4.4.2 CICERO on the reality of climate change .......................................................... 70 4.5 Comparative analysis of 2009 ................................................................................... 75 4.5.1 Solid or permeable boundaries? ......................................................................... 75 4.5.2 Credibility where credibility is due? .................................................................. 78 4.5.3 CICERO’s ambivalence towards their readers ................................................... 80 4.5.4 Civil society got a mixed message ..................................................................... 81 4.6 Summing up the chapter ...........................................................................................