Our Senior Programme Manager had the opportunity to speak with CGLN Fellow and Professor of Public Policy at the University of San Diego about his book ‘Fixing the Climate: Strategies for an Uncertain World’ co-authored with Professor Charles Sabel.
The book has been published in the US, and will be published in the UK on 27th September 2022.
The book explains why the profound transformations needed for deep cuts in emissions must arise locally, with government and business working together to experiment with new technologies, quickly learn the best solutions, and spread that information globally.
Sabel and Victor show how some of the most iconic successes in environmental policy were products of this experimentalist approach to problem-solving, such as the Montreal Protocol on the ozone layer, the rise of electric vehicles, and Europe’s success in controlling water pollution.
They argue that the Paris Agreement is at best an umbrella under which local experimentation can push the technological frontier and help societies around the world learn how to deploy the technologies and policies needed to tackle this daunting global problem.
Our conversation unpicks some of the core elements of the book, looking at what the authors mean by ‘experimentalist governance and the role that diplomacy should play in solving climate change.
