Les désaccords sur le changement climatique en France : au-delà d’un climat bipolaire

Disagreements on climate change in France: stepping beyond a polarized ambience

Histoire et sociologie des sciences, CNRS, UMR 8560, Centre Alexandre Koyré, 75013 Paris  

Auteur correspondant : helene.guillemot@cnrs.fr

Reçu : 24 Décembre 2012
Accepté : 5 Avril 2014

Résumé

Les controverses du climat en France sont souvent réduites à la contestation, par quelques personnalités médiatiques, de la responsabilité humaine du changement climatique. Or cette bipolarisation occulte une plus grande variété de problèmes, d’acteurs et de positions – au-delà de la confrontation entre pro- et anti-environnementalistes à laquelle on l’assimile souvent. Les désaccords portent en particulier sur les sciences du climat et la modélisation – leur légitimité et leurs limites – sur le lien entre science et politique, et sur le cadrage même du problème climatique.

Abstract

Climate change controversies in France are often reduced to popular scientists denying human responsibility in global warming. Such polarization overshadows, however, a wide range of problems, actors and positions. In this paper, we show first that the visibility of these controversies is closely linked to the evolution of the climate issue as a public problem, which has moved through several stages over the past twenty years. The most recent period is characterized by an increase in the diversity of controversies and of “dissonant voices”. Part of the disagreements are about climate sciences (especially climate models) and involve the recognition and stabilization of a new disciplinary field and new relationships between science and politics. Another kind of controversy concerns the domain and boundaries of climate sciences, as climate change issues reshape neighbouring scientific fields and confront different epistemic cultures. Finally, political and philosophical disagreements sparked by anthropogenic climate change go beyond the usual conflict between pro and anti- environmentalism, and also concern the very definition of the climate issue.