Promises to keep against climate change: a rhetorical analysis of Iran, China, and Brazil’s statements at COP26

On 12th December 2015, at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, the representatives of 197 countries ratified the Paris Agreement, which addressed gas emissions mitigation, acknowledging the urgent measures required to avert climate change. In 2021, at COP26 in Glasgow, political representatives were urged to renew their commitments to protect all ecosystems and biodiversity. On this occasion, countries from all over the world released zealous statements to prove their NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions), to show how they are fulfilling their commitments towards a green economy and sustainability. Drawing from ecological linguistics and focusing on the interplay between political discourse and ecology, this contribution aims to analyse key examples from the statements made by Iran, China, and Brazil at COP26. These statements were selected due to the ecological policies of the countries involved; for instance, Iran has never ratified the Paris Agreement, China is facing scrutiny over its carbon dioxide emissions, and Brazil is reportedly not taking further steps to enhance climate action.
This chapter aims to investigate and compare the style of the
discourses, demonstrating how these countries counterbalance their
controversial efforts towards climate action with precise, convincing
verbal strategies. Therefore, all three speeches are analysed using core
definitions of stylistics: point of view, foregrounding, metaphor,
figures of speech, along with other argumentative strategies in order
to further studies about political discourse and green ethics.