'Academic freedom' v. climate change Denial: How the politics of research funding shapes the possibilities for researching grassroots activism

In this chapter we focus on the politicisation of research on young people and climate action. Specifically, we examine efforts by the Australian government in 2021 to prevent such research by vetoing a project that was approved by the national research council for funding on this topic. We situate the Australian case study in the broader context of the politics of climate change – an issue which, since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, has prompted significant sustained – and new – grassroots movements for urgent action on climate change. Equally, climate-sceptic think tanks and carbon capital have influenced government national and international policy in many advanced democracies including Australia. This political influence has been overt and covert, shaping the conditions in which grassroots climate activism operates – with effects on how it can be researched and understood. While research on grassroots environmental and climate action, often with participants themselves, has made a valuable contribution to explaining, informing and amplifying efforts by various movements and organisations, the scale of grassroots activism has far outweighed the research funded and conducted on climate politics. In discussing broader issues about academic freedom and climate denial we argue that the politics of accessing research funding directly intersects with the politics of climate activism and climate scepticism in ways that have significant implications for praxis in grassroots climate activism – and democracy.