Abstract Critical scholarship on climate change knowledge has largely overlooked the latter’s influence on the formation of political subjects. This article addresses this gap; it draws on literature of political and environmental subjects to examine how political authorities use global climate change knowledge to form ‘climate subjects.’ It argues that through formation of climate subjects, political authorities can steer the climate change response and simultaneously reproduce structures of political authority. The article takes Vietnam as a case. Vietnam is projected to be one of the countries most affected by climate change, and political authorities have been active in responding, with policies emphasizing knowledge dissemination. The article traces the influence of global climate change knowledge in Vietnamese climate change policy through analysis of national policymaking. It then examines policy implementation and subject formation in sub-national levels of government, as sub-national officials’ climate subjectivities are a potent political tool. Such ‘street-level bureaucrats’ translate policy to practice and shape local climate change responses, livelihoods and lives. The article draws on interviews with sub-national officials and document review of sub-national climate change policies and training documents. The article finds that climate subject formation in Vietnam reflects and contributes to the reproduction of existing political and economic structures. It thereby limits alternative visions of climate change response. This indicates the importance of diverse forms of knowledge – ontologies, epistemologies and conceptualizations of climate change – to support transformational responses rather than functional persistence.

中文翻译：

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全球气候变化知识与越南气候主题的产生

摘要关于气候变化知识的批判性学术研究在很大程度上忽略了后者对政治主体形成的影响。本文解决了这一差距。它利用政治和环境主题的文献来研究政治当局如何利用全球气候变化知识来形成“气候主题”。它认为，通过形成气候主体，政治权威可以指导气候变化对策，同时再现政治权威的结构。本文以越南为例。越南预计将成为受气候变化影响最大的国家之一，政治当局一直在积极应对，政策强调知识传播。本文通过对国家政策制定的分析，追溯了全球气候变化知识对越南气候变化政策的影响。然后，由于地方官员的气候主观性是有效的政治工具，因此它研究了地方政府的政策实施和主题形成。这样的“街头官僚”将政策转换为实践并塑造当地对气候变化的反应，生计和生活。本文借鉴了地方政府官员的采访以及地方气候变化政策和培训文件的文件审查。文章发现，越南的气候主题形成反映并促进了现有政治和经济结构的复制。因此，它限制了应对气候变化的另类愿景。