We often link climate denialism and opposition to environmental protection measures with far-right parties. Camil Ungureanu, Marc Sanjaume-Calvet and Balša Lubarda say this is an oversimplification. They argue that important centre-right parties are downplaying ecological concerns, and framing ecology as 'the new communism'. In so doing, they are paving the way for far-right climate denialism
On 29 October 2024, torrential rain in Valencia caused flash floods which devastated the region and killed more than 200 people. As the clear-up continues, many more are feared missing. This is a wake-up call to the long-term inadequacy of mainstream politics in tackling climate change. However, this inadequacy is not solely the result of far-right ecologism influencing or 'contaminating' the centre. The crisis at the centre is evident in centrists' climate-denialist stances.
Our recent research explores how the centre right in Spain developed climate-denialist positions before the emergence of the far right. These positions sought to undermine scientific authority, and to frame ecology as an existential threat to free societies.
Former Prime Minister José María Aznar led Spain’s centre-right People’s Party (PP) from 1990 to 2004. Aznar, who is still influential in Spanish politics, articulated key elements of a far-right discourse concerning ecology. This 'extremism of the centre', to use Seymour Lipset's phrase, preceded the formation of the far-right party Vox. Indeed, Vox was founded in 2013 as a spinoff of the PP. Aznar’s narrative was polarising and anti-elitist, with distinctive conspiratorial elements. He proposed a supposedly progressive elite consensus as the new enemy, framing ecology as 'the new communism' and suggesting that 'climate change consensus' threatened not just Spain, but freedom worldwide.
Aznar frequently speaks of the environmental emergency as 'political correctness'. He has questioned the scientific discourse on behalf of supposed 'freedom of speech', and this will allow leaders who come after him to criticise environmentalism as an attack on markets and freedom. In contrast, Aznar has advocated for a reasonable ecology (ecología sensible) as a supposedly pragmatic approach to environmental problems.
Aznar’s stance on environmental issues created reverse contamination; initially, influence did not flow from the far right to the centre, but in the opposite direction
In practical terms, while Aznar’s government did sign the Kyoto Protocol in 1998, it sided with business-capitalist interests. Aznar’s stance on environmental issues, particularly his alignment with pro-business and anti-regulatory policies, laid the groundwork for the next generation of PP leaders and their far-right counterparts. This was a case of reverse contamination; influence did not flow from the far right to the centre, but in the opposite direction.
The far-right Vox adopted and amplified Aznar’s Manichean, anti-elitist narrative which framed 'progressive elites' as the global archenemy of free society. Vox presented environmentalism as 'political correctness' and 'new communism'; a threat to Spain and its freedoms.
The PP’s conservative approach echoes Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s period of developmentalism (desarrollismo). In this later period, Franco espoused a quasi-Romantic, organicist defence of Spanish countryside and nature. At the same time, he supported capitalist extractivism and international investment. Mariano Rajoy, Aznar’s successor, who led the PP from 2011 to 2018, further exemplified the party's ambivalent stance. Rajoy oscillated between dismissing scientific evidence and proclaiming a 'crusade against climate change', while consistently prioritising business interests and capitalist extractivism over environmental protection.
Despite an emphasis on sustainability, it is economic growth and business-capitalist interests — not environmentalism — which remain the primary concern for the People's Party
Alberto Núñez Feijóo has led the PP since 2022. He has had to navigate carefully between his party's far-right factions and the broader European context. Feijóo has attempted to strike a more moderate political tone. The 2023 party manifesto, for example, advocates for sustainable growth and reformist policies to address environmental concerns. Climate change is conspicuously absent. Capitalist economic growth, rather than environmentalism, remains the PP's primary concern.
The PP’s more adaptive stance toward the EU’s green agenda is under constant pressure from populist far-right figures like Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who has a strong following among conservatives. Ayuso, President of the Community of Madrid, has become one of the PP's most vocal and charismatic figures. Indeed, her brand of far-right populism echoes the environmental scepticism championed by both Aznar and Vox.
At the 2019 Madrid COP25 Climate Summit, Ayuso questioned climate science legitimacy, declaring 'One day we will uncover the lobby behind this'. In a 2020 interview, she even made the bold claim that 'no one has died from climate change'. In doing so, she downplayed the scientific consensus and aligned herself with the conspiratorial rhetoric of far-right ecologism.
Ayuso's Manichean language is echoed by far-right figures such as Vox leader Santiago Abascal. Abascal has consistently portrayed environmentalism as an elitist conspiracy designed to curtail the freedoms of ordinary Spaniards. Both leaders frame climate action as a tool for leftist control, and this resonates with voters frustrated by inflation and perceived overregulation.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal has consistently portrayed 'progressive environmentalism' as an elitist conspiracy designed to curtail the freedoms of ordinary Spaniards
While the PP does not fully embrace Vox’s stance, the two parties have colluded to obstruct a substantive green transition. The Environmental Justice Atlas examines the conflicts between business interests and ecological protection. It reveals how PP and Vox have cooperated to marginalise efforts towards environmental protection. Through collusion and mutual reinforcement, far-right ideas, initially seeded by the centre right and shaped by modernist and capitalist logic, have now entered the mainstream.
The Spanish case shows that climate obstruction isn’t confined to the far right. Far-right ecologism and other environmental discourses often converge on Promethean visions of technological innovation and modernisation, driven by relentless extractivism masked as 'rational' growth. The far right's ecological ideas frequently slip into the mainstream through market-based solutions, revealing the deep connection between capitalist extractivism and the (far) right.
The Spanish experience does not apply universally. However, we should not limit the analysis of far-right ecologism — particularly its denialist and marginalisation tactics — only to far-right parties. With few exceptions, centre-right parties from the US to Austria, Spain, the UK, and India are creating dire consequences for climate policy and democratic politics. As the climate crisis exposes political parties' inability to transcend the capitalist paradigm of endless growth, the centre right becomes a natural bedfellow of the far right. The real danger lies in how this crisis of the centre allows far-right ideas to flourish.
The path to a sustainable and just environmental future is now more uncertain than ever. It remains to be seen how well Spanish politics will be able to address the current disaster in Valencia, and build a more resistant future.
