Fergus Green

research

My research traverses the disciplines of political science (especially political theory), philosophy, and law.

It is mostly organised around three applied themes, each motivated by my fascination with the opportunities and challenges of transitioning our societies away from dependence on fossil fuels:

Theme #1: Green transformation and the good life in the 21st century
Theme #2: Anti-fossil fuel politics and governance
Theme #3: The losers from structural change / "just transition"

Working on climate change - perhaps the most complex challenge facing humanity - affords me the opportunity to critically engage with a range of wider and deeper questions concerning democratic political institutions, capitalism, innovation, loss, agency, and well-being. Each research theme reflects these adjacent theoretical and applied interests.

publications→

View a hyperlinked list of my academic and policy publications.

Theme #1: Green transformation and the good life in the 21st century

This research theme explores the opportunities and benefits that can come from decarbonising our economies. It engages with questions of innovation (technological and institutional), cooperation, well-being, and the good life.

Theme #2: Anti-fossil fuel politics and governance

This research theme is concerned with understanding and overcoming some of the greatest barriers to decarbonisation, namely the power of fossil fuel industries/companies and their relationships with states/governments. It engages with questions concerning the nature and diffusion of prhobitionary moral norms ("anti-fossil fuel norms"), flaws in democratic institutions, social movement activism, and the conceptualisation and rights of business corporations. 

Theme #3: The losers from structural change / "just transition"

Decarbonisation - like other policy, technological, economic and cultural changes - creates "losers". I'm interested in when and how societies should provide for the losers of such changes through "transition policy", as well as the political implications of different kinds of transition policies. This work engages with how people experience changes in their socio-economic status or well-being over time, and brings my climate/energy work into a wider conversation about socio-economic inequalities, contemporary capitalism, and the politics of structural change.

Research

Politics -- Philosophy -- Law

I work primarily in the disciplines of political science (especially political theory), philosophy, and law.
Some of my work also engages with other social sciences, such as economics, international relations and sociology.
My research has been published in journals including Climatic Change, Nature Geoscience, Climate Policy, and Moral Philosophy & Politics.

Climate change & Energy -- Socio-economic change & inequalities

Much of my work applies theoretical insights to contemporary political challenges.

I'm especially passionate about the challenge of transitioning our societies from dependence on fossil fuels to renewable energy, and the extraordinary opportunities created by such a transition.

But this transition - like others, such as automation - will also create "losers". I'm interested in when and how societies should provide for the losers of such changes through "transition policy". This work considers how people experience changes in their socio-economic status over time, and brings my climate/energy work into a wider conversation about socio-economic inequalities and contemporary capitalism.

ideas -- agents -- INSTITUTIONS

At the level of theory, my research is animated by a belief in the power of ideas - e.g. norms, values, ideologies - to shape human behaviour and institutional design. 

I'm interested in fundamental questions about how we should conceptualise persons, group agents (such as corporations), and the state, and the role that such conceptualisations play in justifying institutions and policies.

Some of my work in political and legal theory looks at how democratic institutions should be designed and reformed so that they are fit to respond to these and other 21st century challenges and opportunities. I'm particularly interested in the content of civic rights and duties, and in interactions between governments and non-state actors such as interest groups, corporations and ordinary citizens.

consultancy

I undertake occasional consultancy work in fields relating to my expertise, specialising in projects that require advice and analysis concerning climate change mitigation policy and associated political strategy. I have a proven track record working as a consultant to business corporations, NGOs, and think tanks in the UK and Australia.

In my consultancy work, I draw on more than five years' full-time professional experience in law and public policy. I began my career as a corporate lawyer in Australia specialising in climate change, energy, water and environmental regulation (2009-2012).
I also spent two years as a Policy Analyst and Research Advisor to Professor Nicholas Stern (Lord Stern of Brentford) at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & The Environment at the London School of Economics & Political Science (2014-2015). 

Media and Events

I have written about the politics and governance of climate change in over 100 op-eds, essays and blog posts, and given interviews for BBC World, BBC Radio Four, ABC television and radio (Australia), CCTV (China), Voice of America, and Radio France International. My climate change work has been covered by The Economist, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times,
Le Monde, The China Daily, and The Guardian.