This article speaks to the frontier of contemporary environmental policy research that investigates the features of a “glass ceiling” that limits structural reform. Influential research focuses on how previously marginalized actors can be included in consensus oriented governance processes and hence put the “glass ceiling” under pressure. This article draws on deliberation theory and makes the argument that inclusion as such is an insufficient mechanism for stronger political incentives. Instead, discursive heterogeneity and visibility of counter-discourses in public space are regarded necessary for the prospects of achieving a reflexive, self-critical political climate. The aim of the article is to identify and locate barriers to the development of counter-discourses and their influence. A measure of discursive heterogeneity in public opinion is constructed from cross-country data on 36 countries and its impact on domestic environmental policy is tested. The results reveal if there seems to exist a “glass ceiling” that prevents counter-discourses in public opinion from impacting environmental politics, or if the “glass ceiling” rather should be understood as a gatekeeper that hinders critical perspectives in public opinion from developing in the first place.