The fantasy of success: climate change as discourse

In this paper, I aim to think through the significance of what we might call the ‘mainstreaming’ of climate science. In doing so, I attempt to explain the apparent paradox that, despite the increasing success of climate change science at discursive level, the failure of that language to frame a viable solution to the problems climate change poses appear ever starker. The inquiry draws on notions of (Foucauldian) ‘discourse’ and (Lacanian) ‘fantasy’, which I introduce by reference to two very different stories to have emerged recently from Norway, a poster child for climate change policy.