Watch Now: IGS Director Benjamin Sovacool Delivers Lecture at Ostrom Workshop
Many beneficial technologies also cause unintended adverse effects, or risks. The deployment of novel technologies to promote a lower-carbon future is no exception. IGS Director Benjamin Sovacool recently shared insights about risk-risk tradeoffs in climate change mitigation during his lecture at the Ostrom Workshop, a forum which invites leading global experts to share their solutions on pressing challenges related to shared and contested resources.
As electric vehicles, solar energy, and efficient homes are deployed to create a lower-carbon future, it is important that researchers are able to characterize and prepare for the risks these technologies may induce. “It’s always this tradeoff, you only have certain benefits with risks,” Sovacool said during his presentation.
Sovacool’s lecture was based on the recent paper that he and colleagues published in the journal Risk Analysis, Risk–risk governance in a low-carbon future: Exploring institutional, technological, and behavioral tradeoffs in climate geoengineering pathways. The novel framework proposed in this publication offers a more complete inventory of risk–risk tradeoffs than has previously been available in the field. Watch the full lecture below. (February 5, 2024)