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This article analyzes the recent rise of conflict in party competition over ecological issues, which had long been the subject of broad political consensus. It argues that opposition to environmental issues stems from the combination of the growing salience of climate issues and the transformation of public policies, whose economic costs are increasingly perceived as high. While incentives for opposition were initially weak, these changes offered parties the opportunity to mobilize groups considered to be the “losers” of the ecological transition. This hypothesis is tested through an analysis of the salience of ecological issues and the positions taken by French political parties in their manifestos and on social media.