CLIMATE STRUGGLE AND IDEOLOGY IN MACRON’S SPEECHES (2024–2025): AN ECO-CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Anggeli Trisna Mekar Tiara, Marliza Arsiyana


Abstract


This study investigates how climate struggle and ecological ideology are constructed in four speeches delivered by Emmanuel Macron (2024–2025) using an eco-critical discourse analysis framework within Fairclough's (1992) three-dimensional model, Halliday & Matthiessen’s (1994) ideational metafunction, Stibbe's (2015) ecolinguistic model, and Corbett's (2006) environmental ideology. The global environmental crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. Despite the growing body of critical discourse studies on climate communication, little attention has been paid to how French leadership constructs ecological ideology in international forums. This research employs a qualitative approach, with the research data comprising the discourse on the fight against climate change in Emmanuel Macron’s speeches. The results showed that the climate struggle is dominated by material processes, with France and Western institutions positioned as the primary agents of global climate action. The ideology identified across the four speeches is conservationism, wherein nature is valued for its benefits to humanity rather than for its intrinsic value. Yet, through the eco-linguistic lens of ecosophy, Macron's discourse occurs as ambivalent, which reflects a sincere ecological commitment that nonetheless remains rooted in a neoliberal framework. Thus, it prioritizes private financing, market mechanisms, and technocratic governance.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Agbeleoba, S. O., Orebe, O., Adekunle-Ojo, G., & Owolabi, O. (2025). Ecolinguistic and critical discourse analysis of environmental narratives in sustainable development goal communications. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 13(5), 195–202.https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20251305.12

Albert, J. S., Carnaval, A. C., Flantua, S. G. A., Lohmann, L. G., Ribas, C. C., Riff, D., Carrillo, J. D., Fan, Y., Figueiredo, J. J. P., Guayasamin, J. M., Hoorn, C., de Melo, G. H., Nascimento, N., Quesada, C. A., Ulloa Ulloa, C., Val, P., Arieira, J., Encalada, A. C., & Nobre, C. A. (2023). Human impacts outpace natural processes in the Amazon. Science, 379(6630), 000–000. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo5003

Arianto, B. (2023). Triangulasi metoda penelitian kualitatif. Borneo Novelty Publishing.

Banks, D. (2024). Systemic functional linguistics: Advances and applications. Journal of World Languages, 10(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2023-0083

Cabrejas-Peñuelas, A. B. (2023). Transitivity and evaluation in American and Spanish parliamentary discourse: The 2015 State of the Union Address in the US vs. the 2015 State of the Nation Address in Spain. Critical Discourse Studies, 20(2), 128–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2022.2041450

Chouliaraki, L., & Fairclough, N. (1999). Discourse in late modernity: Rethinking critical discourse analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Christensen, R. V. K., & Bentsen, N. S. (2024). Discourse developments within the public agenda on Danish nature management 2016–2021: Animal welfare ethics as a barrier to rewilding projects. Ambio, 53, 637–652. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01964-8

Corbett, J. (2006). An intercultural approach to English language teaching languages for intercultural communication and education series, vol. 7. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D. (2023) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Sage Publications Ltd.

Doudaki, V., & Carpentier, N. (2025). Behind the narratives of climate change denial and rights of nature: Sustainability and the ideological struggle between anthropocentrism and ecocentrism in two radical Facebook groups in Sweden. Journal of Political Ideologies, 30(1), 200–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2023.2196506

Eckersley, R. (2020). Rethinking leadership: Understanding the roles of the US and China in the negotiation of the Paris Agreement. European Journal of International Relations, 26(4), 1178–1202. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066120927071

Ewick, P., & Silbey, S. S. (1994). Subversive stories and hegemonic tales: Toward a sociology of narrative. Law & Society Review, 29(2), 197–226. https://doi.org/10.2307/3054010

Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and text: Linguistic and intertextual analysis within discourse analysis. SAGE Journal, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926592003002004

Fowler, R., Hodge, B., Kress, G., & Trew, T. (1979). Language and control. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Fox, C. (1997). The authenticity of intercultural communication. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 21(1), 85–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-1767(96)00012-0

Gong, F. (2023). Analysis of ecological discourse in animal novels from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature, 6, 53–56.https://doi.org/10.23977/langl.2023.061008

Grumbach, S., & Hamant, O. (2020). How humans may co-exist with Earth? The case for suboptimal systems. Anthropocene, 30, 100245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2020.100245

Halliday, M.A.K., Matthiessen, C.M.I.M., Halliday, M., & Matthiessen, C. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203783771

Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (1995) Ethnography: Principles in practice. Routledge, New York.

Hay, C. (2002). Globalisation as problem of political analysis: restoring agents to a “process without a subject” and politics to a logic of economic compulsion. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 15, 379-392.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0955757022000010935

Hodge, R., & Kress, G. (1979). Language as ideology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Kashif, F., Farooqi, R., Tariq, S., Nusrat, A., Ashraf, F., & Raees, A. (2022). A transitivity analysis of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s third presidential debate. Heliyon, 8(9), e10518.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10518

Kenzhekanova, K. (2015). Linguistic features of political discourse. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(6 S2), 192–198. https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s2p192

Kusmanto, H., Bahri, S., Zega, P. O., & Subhilhar. (2023). Joe Biden’s confidence in addressing world security issue: An interpersonal analysis of political discourse. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 13(11), 2867–2876. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1311.17

Laurie, J., & Thompson, M. (2025). Fossil-fueled stories: An ecolinguistic critical discourse analysis of the South African government’s naturalisation of fossil fuels in the context of the climate crisis. Critical Discourse Studies, 22(6), 589–607.https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2024.2366282

Leipold, S., Feindt, P. H., Winkel, G., & Keller, R. (2019). Discourse analysis of environmental policy revisited: Traditions, trends, perspectives. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 21(5), 445–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2019.1660462

Leung, L. E. (2020). The Greta effect: How does Greta Thunberg use the discourse of youth in her movement for climate justice? (Bachelor’s honours thesis, University of Calgary).

https://arts.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/teams/21/Leung-Hons-Thesis-April-2020%20(1).pdf

Luan, L., & Zhang, D. (2024). Ecological discourse analysis of Russian educational texts based on the transitivity system. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1).https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2399369

Lidicker, W. Z., Jr. (2020). A scientist’s warning to humanity on human population growth. Global Ecology and Conservation, 24, e01232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01232

Luan, C., Renzhi Liu, Yang Li, Qiyang Zhang. (2024). Comparison of various models for multi-scenario simulation of land use/land cover to predict ecosystem service value: A case study of Harbin-Changchun Urban Agglomeration, China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 478, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.144012.

Martin, D., McKenna, H., & Livina, V. (2017). The human physiological impact of global deoxygenation. Journal of Physiological Sciences, 67(1), 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12576-016-0501-0

Morris, J., & Hirst, G. (1991). Lexical cohesion computed by thesaural relations as an indicator of the structure of text. Computational Linguistics, 17(1), 21–48.

Muldoon, J., Apostolidis, P., Hatzisavvidou, S., et al. (2025). New materialism and the politics of climate action: A critical dialogue. Contemporary Political Theory, 24, 274–297. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-024-00742-9

My Nhat, T. N., & Thu Hien, H. T. (2023). Construction of roles, obligations and values in politicians’ discourses on anti-corruption. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 10(1), 2249286. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2023.2249286

Naz, N., Atta, A., & Hassan, A. (2022). Climate change and linguistic assistance to overcome its risks: An ecolinguistic analysis of Greta Thunberg speech. World Journal of English Language, 12(7), Special Issue.

https://ssrn.com/abstract=4303703

Nesbitt-Larking, P. (2017). The ideological work of narratives: A review essay. Political Psychology, 38(4), 571–578. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12410

Parker, C. F., Karlsson, C., & Hjerpe, M. (2017). Assessing the European Union’s global climate change leadership: From Copenhagen to the Paris Agreement. Journal of European Integration, 39(2), 239–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2016.1275608

Potter, L. (2016). Ideological representations and theme-rheme analysis in English and Arabic news reports: A systemic functional approach. Functional Linguistics, 3(5). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-016-0028-y

Riyanto, A., & Ardianto, A. (2023). It’s nice to meet you: Contextual configuration on formal and informal introductions. World Journal of English Language, 14(2), 56–63. https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v14n2p56

Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., Chapin, F. S., & Lambin, E. (2009). Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and Society, 14(2), 32.https://doi.org/10.1038/461472a

Rodman, R., Fromkin, V., & Nina Hyams, N. (1983). An introduction to language. Cengage Learning

Sadi, U., Anees, Y., & Kanwal, A. (2024). Analysis of ecolinguistic discourse in Bina Shah’s “the monsoon war”. Annals of Human and Social Sciences, 5(4), 319–327. https://doi.org/10.35484/ahss.2024(5-IV)30

Saragih, T. B., Sihombing, P. S. R., & Napitupulu, S. (2026). Constructing the ‘climate crisis’: A critical discourse analysis of rhetorical strategies in G20 leaders’ speeches. Young Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(1), 209–220.

https://doi.org/10.66867/yjssh.v2i1.268

Song, X., Bakar, K., Abas, A. & Wan Abdul Halim, W. (2025). A systematic literature review on ecological discourse analysis (2014–2023). Journal of World Languages, 11(1), 50-74. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2024-0034

Stibbe, Arran (2015). Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By. Routledge.

Telesienė, A., & Hadler, M. (2023). Dynamics and landscape of academic discourse on environmental attitudes and behaviors since the 1970s. Frontiers in Sociology, 8, 1136972. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1136972

Van Dijk (1998). Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Sage Academic Books

Walewicz, P. (2022). Studying the economization of discourse on international relations: The case for ecolinguistics. Torun International Studies, 2(16), 31–45. https://doi.org/10.12775/TIS.2022.009

Wang, X. (2026). Deconstruct discursive power of the BRICS: A comparative legal discourse analysis on the obligations of states in respect of climate change. Asian Review of Political Economy, 5, 6–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44216-026-00074-y

Wang, G., & Huan, C. (2023). Negotiating climate change in public discourse: insights from critical discourse studies. Critical Discourse Studies, 21(2), 133–145.https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2023.2198725

Wang, X., & Zhao, X. (2023). From growth obsession to ecological promotion: The discursive construction of party image in Chinese political discourse on ecological civilization. Discourse & Communication, 17(6), 741–763. https://doi.org/10.1177/17504813231181080

Webster, J. J. (2019). Key terms in the SFL model. In G. Thompson, W. L. Bowcher, L. Fontaine, & D. Schönthal (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of systemic functional linguistics (pp. 35–54). Cambridge University Press.

Yuliastutik, R. (2024). Analisis ekolinguistik kritis dalam video Pandawara Group pembersih sampah: Perspektif Teun A. Van Dijk. GHANCARAN: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, 184–197. https://doi.org/10.19105/ghancaran.vi.17206

Zhang, L., & Jocuns, A. (2023). A multimodal critical discourse analysis of stance-taking in English news reports on the environment. Journal of Studies in the English Language, 18(2), 108–142.

Zhou, J. (2024). Preferences of interpersonal metaphor of modality in academic disciplines. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 1546. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04084-0




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30743/ll.v10i1.13465

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.