POLICIES to protect the environment and combat climate change could be under threat from right-wing populists as energy prices rise, researchers have warned.

Dr Matthew Lockwood, senior lecturer in energy policy at the University of Sussex Business School, said right-wing and populist political parties could focus attention on climate and energy policies if the cost of energy continues to impact the lives and finances of voters.

The warning comes as a new study co-authored by Dr Lockwood reveals that countries in the European Union with proportional representation voting systems are better protected against the threat of right-wing parties and leaders ripping up climate policy than countries outside the EU with first-past-the-post elections, such as the United States and Australia.

The research, published in the journal Global Environmental Politics, explained that while nationalist and right-wing populist parties can have a negative impact on climate policies, they can be accepting of some forms of renewable energy - provided it can help relieve energy security issues and limit reliance on energy supply from other countries.

Dr Lockwood said: “Conventional centre-right political parties have always been more reluctant to adopt strong climate policies, but the rise of right-wing populist parties and movements represents a threat of a different order.

“Our research suggests that while right-wing populists taking over mainstream centre-right parties is relatively rare, when they have done so, as with Donald Trump in the United States, the impact on climate policy has been strongly negative.

“Soaring energy prices potentially create a new opportunity for populists to attack policy, despite the fact that concern about climate change is at record levels.”

The study suggested that the existence of climate and renewable energy targets at an EU level muted the influence of right-wing populist parties on climate change in member states, compared with a strong negative impact in governments of countries outside the EU.

Researchers also discovered that rising unemployment levels reduce the quality of climate policy, as other policies are given higher priority during recessions, high local air pollution increases the quality of climate policy in response to demands from people for improvements, and countries with high levels of fuel exports had increased quality in climate policies.

The findings come just months after Brexit campaigner and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage announced a campaign against the government’s pledge to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.