What to know

• Governments are rolling back climate policy even as disasters intensify: 45 major rollbacks across 15 jurisdictions in one year, six of them during the June 2026 European heatwave that killed 14,000+.
• The paradox: leaders accept the science but reject proportionate action, resembling medical denial patterns where patients understand diagnosis but refuse treatment.
• Rentzhog distinguishes denial from policy disagreement—disagreement offers an alternative at comparable scale; denial rejects all measures and proposes nothing.
• The mechanism protects psychologically in the short term but becomes a barrier to action when action still matters.

“As climate disasters intensify, many governments are retreating from climate action instead of accelerating it. The article argues that this resembles denial in advanced illness; leaders accept the diagnosis while rejecting the treatment.”

GregCocks, Mastodon user sharing article summary · Mastodon

Ingmar Rentzhog Forbes contributor, climate analystWorld Health Organization Health assessment bodyWorld Weather Attribution Climate attribution research organization