Climate Innovation Liberal Capitalism and Climate Change

Capitalism is criticized as both the cause of, and the main barrier to, effective mitigation of climate change. Yet, from the earliest days of the international negotiations, states have agreed that technological innovation, believed to be a primary strength of capitalism, is crucial to prevention of a dangerous accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Nations prefer to rely on innovative technologies to reduce emissions than to use regulations to constrain markets and limit social choice. The contributors to this volume show that the strengths of the system that creates ever new consumer products and industrial processes actually prevent the generation of technological innovations that would most effectively mitigate climate change. Through comprehensive research of the US innovation system and how companies respond to its supporting institutions, they demonstrate that liberal capitalism's perceived strengths are also its weaknesses. They also show that current theories of technological innovation are incomplete and suggest the institutional changes needed to generate climate innovations.

Neil Harrison is the Executive Director of The Sustainable Development Institute, USA. He is author of Constructing Sustainable Development, Sustainable Capitalism and the Pursuit of Well-Being, editor of Complexity in World Politics, and co-editor of Science and Politics in the International Environment.
 
John Mikler is Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney, Australia. His research interests are primarily focussed on the role of transnational economic actors, particularly multinational corporations, and the interaction between them and states, international organisations and civil society. He is the author of Greening the Car Industry, and The Handbook of Global Companies, as well as over 20 journal articles and book chapters.

1. An Introduction to Climate Innovation; Neil E. Harrison and John Mikler
2. Institutions that Influence Climate Innovation; Neil E. Harrison and John Mikler
PART I: THE NATIONAL CONTEXT OF CLIMATE INNOVATION
3. Climate Policy, Energy Technologies, and the American Developmental State; Robert MacNeil
4. Colorado's New Energy Economy: Ecological Modernization, American-Style?; Stratis Giannakouros and Dimitris Stevis
PART II: THE CORPORATE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE INNOVATION
5. The Role of Corporate Scientists and Institutional Context: Corporate Responses to Climate Change in the Automobile Industry; David Levy and Sandra Rothenberg
6. How Firms Respond to Institutions when Investing in Climate Innovation; Neil E. Harrison and John Mikler
7. US Labour Unions and Climate Change: Technological Innovations and Institutional Influences; Dimitris Stevis
PART III: CLIMATE INNOVATION ACROSS BORDERS
8. The Influence of US Neoliberalism on International Climate Change Policy; Jeffrey McGee
9. Varieties of Capitalism and US versus Chinese Corporations' Climate
Change Strategies; John Mikler and Hinrich Voss
10. Institutional Complexity in European Union Climate Innovation: European and National Experiences with Off-Shore Renewable Energy; Ian Bailey
11. Conclusion: A Way Forward; Neil E. Harrison and John Mikler