My research examines the dynamics of environmental reform, with a particular focus on how power, organized interests, and political contestation shape responses to environmental problems. I approach these questions primarily through the case of climate politics, with my projects organized around three interconnected areas of research. Selected publications are listed below; see my CV for a full publication list.
I. Power, organized interests, and environmental obstruction.
This research stream focuses on how media institutions and organized economic interests shape the public understanding of environmental initiatives and policy responses to them.
Loy, Loredana, & Wetts, R. (2026). “Let them eat kale!” Appeals to class-based resentment in American conservative opposition to climate change solutions. Social Problems, spag003. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spag003
Loy, Loredana, & Jacquet, J. (2025). The animal agriculture industry’s obstruction of campaigns promoting individual climate action. Climate Policy, 25(9), 1536–1545. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2460603
II. Environmental governance amid shifting political contexts.
This research stream focuses on how broader political processes, including polarization and politicization, shape policy debates.
Loy, Loredana. (2022). Experts and climate change politicisation. A case study of the Environmental Protection Agency (1983–2015). Science and Public Policy, 49(5), 699–713. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scac020
III. Global climate governance and public discourse.
This research stream focuses on how knowledge produced by institutions of global climate governance is mediated and translated into public discourse across national contexts.
Wetts, R., Morris, H. E., Boykoff, M., McNally, B., Painter, J., Sanford, M., Diamond, E. P., Esteve-del-Valle, M., Loy, Loredana, Perry, K. E., Raja, U. S., & Tschötschel, R. (2025). Climate media amidst technopolitical change: Challenges, transformations, and new directions for research. Climatic Change, 178(6), 115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03936-1
Wetts, R., Painter, J., & Loy, Loredana. (2024). The IPCC in the hybrid public sphere: Divergent responses to climate mitigation solutions in mainstream and social media. Climatic Change, 177, 178. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-024-03827-x
Painter, J., Ettinger, J., Holmes, D., Loy, Loredana, Pinto, J., Richardson, L., Thomas-Walters, L., Vowles, K., & Wetts, R. (2023). Climate delay discourses present in global mainstream television coverage of the IPCC’s 2021 report. Communications Earth & Environment, 4, 100. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00760-2