Congist'26: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Crisis

The Energy Transition as a Solution to the Ecological Crisis? A Discourse Analysis of Techno-Solutionist Ideology

D3-S2-K1

15 May 2026, 11:35

20m

Kurul Odası (Istanbul University Faculty of Letters)

Oral Presentation Session 2.7 (Day 3)

Speaker

Thomas Franck (Ghent University)

Description

This study examines the formula “energy transition” in the Belgian French-language daily Le Soir between 24 February 2022 and 5 November 2024 (396 occurrences). Rather than a neutral label, the formula operates as a rhetorical device condensing imaginaries of technological optimism, economic growth, and ecological futures, while downplaying tensions and contradictions inherent in ecological crises (Audet 2016; Kanjanapinyowong 2019; Nappi 2024; Marlot 2025).
The analysis combines corpus-based methods with qualitative discourse analysis (Moirand 2020; Maingueneau 2011, 2021; Rabatel 2017, 2021). Using the Hyperbase program, recurrent lexical patterns and co-occurrences are identified (Bennett 2015; Longrée & Vanni 2025; Vanni 2024). Frequency data alone do not reveal meaning: enunciative and rhetorical framing elucidate how discourse participants negotiate stance and meaning, connecting with cognitive-linguistic notions of intersubjectivity, shared knowledge (Amossy 2010; Krieg-Planque 2009), and ideological formations (Maingueneau 2011).

Three discursive tendencies emerge:

1. Acceleration imaginary. Verbs associated with the formula emphasize speed and productivity, situating the transition within an industrial temporality rather than an ecological rupture. Deontic auxiliaries and impersonal constructions express normative expectations that shape audience perceptions and cognitive representations.

2. Moralization through “green”. Adjectival patterns produce a reassuring ecological frame while obscuring contradictions inherent in green capitalism (Fox 2022; Williams 2024). This underscores the conflicting ideologies embedded in the formula, which guide how audiences imagine what the transition entails.

3. Requalification of nuclear power. Contested energy sources are rhetorically integrated into the decarbonization narrative, illustrating the flexibility of formulaic discourse in shaping public consensus and stance (Fressoz 2024; Nippert 2024).