Towards Ego-Ecology? Populist Environmental Agendas and the Sustainability Transition in Europe

The concept of Ego-Ecology captures environmental agendas that challenge a shared European environmental conscience in many respects. In fact, diverse populist actors such as the gilets jaunes movement and the extreme right of the Rassemblement National in France, or the right-wing populist party Fidesz in Hungary, do not reject environmental protection and climate action completely, but rather utilise them for their own agendas. The populist re-framing of environmental agendas challenges comprehensive problem-solving and supranational decision-making at the EU level. This potentially undermines a swift sustainability transition in Europe.
Keywords: populism; sustainability transition; climate policy; Fidesz; gilets jaunes