Delay Means Death: Unpacking Delayism – A New Measure of Public Support or Rejection of Climate Delay Discourses

Addressing the climate crisis requires a nuanced understanding of the beliefs that undermine individual and collective action. While climate denial has been extensively studied, less attention has been paid to "climate delayism"—a set of beliefs that, while not necessarily negating anthropogenic climate change, serve to justify inaction. These discourses of delay typically involve shifting responsibility, promoting non-transformational solutions, emphasizing the flaws of climate policies, and downplaying climate impacts. Although delayism has been identified as a rhetorical strategy among corporate and political elites, its prevalence within the general public remains under-researched. This study fills that gap by examining the prevalence of climate delayism beliefs and their associations with climate anxiety and denial based on two representative samples of citizens in Poland and the UK (N=1,000). Our results show that: (1) the overall factor structure of climate delayism beliefs is similar in both countries; (2) greater adherence to climate delayism is associated with lower climate anxiety and higher climate denial; and (3) critically, some delayist beliefs are held even by respondents who believe in climate change and are concerned about it. We discuss these findings and propose that as outright denialist beliefs wane, delay discourses are becoming a more predominant and insidious obstacle to transformative climate action.