A Passion for Virtue? Appeals to Morality and Emotions in European Parliament Climate Change Debates

Abstract

Although it is well acknowledged that moral foundations have an emotional component, little is known about the relation between moral foundations and emotions in current political and public debates. The analysis of this relation is crucial to better understand causal pathways from affect and emotion to climate change action and behavior. Employing Emotion Discourse Analysis, this study analyzes appeals to moral foundations in European Parliament (EP) plenary debates on the topic of climate change, and their relation to emotions between 1994 and 2022. We show that the relation between moral foundations and emotions depends on the narratives put forward by policymakers from different political groups. After linking narratives, moral foundations and emotions, we hypothesize how the identified combinations affect political action. We show that narratives promoting action-oriented and effective appeals to emotions, which are key in advancing environmental protection, are not the most prominent in EP debates.