Greening or Greying? How Green and Radical Right Parties Shape Climate Party Competition

To what extent do Green and Radical Right parties influence other parties’- and each other’s - climate change positions and salience? Building on the literature on party competition and niche parties, this study examines how the electoral strength of Green and Radical Right parties shapes other parties’ climate positioning and salience. Using original data from the PARTYCLIM database, which includes four elections across 20 countries from 2002 to 2022, the analysis shows that both party families alter the dynamics of climate competition in distinct ways. Contrary to what is expected, Green party strength is negatively linked to the climate positions of non-Left parties, while Radical Right vote share is positively associated with both the position and salience of non-Right parties. Finally, I examine whether Green and Radical Right parties influence one another but find no indication of such an effect, suggesting that their impact is more significant on other parties.