Worthy Adversary or Grandmaster? A Conversation with David Victor

Tisha Schuller welcomes David Victor, professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), to the Energy Thinks Podcast.

Tisha and David discuss:

• The rapidly increasing political risk for oil and gas companies;
• His Engine No. 1 report and its dismissal of “fast following” strategies;
• His co-authored study on the success of carbon capture and storage projects and thoughts on policy;
• Pragmatic consideration of the human element in decarbonization strategies and his co-authored paper on climate policy models;
• The future of natural gas and his California climate-protecting technologies example; and,
• Energy transition revolutions and decarbonization “workshops.”

David Victor has been a professor of innovation and public policy at UCSD since 2009. He also serves as the Endowed Chair in Innovation and Public Policy for the Center for Global Transformation and the co-director of the Deep Decarbonization Initiative at the university. Outside of UCSD, he serves as an adjunct professor in climate, atmospheric science, and physical oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the co-chair of the Initiative on Energy and Climate at The Brookings Institution. Prior to these roles, David was a professor of energy and environmental law and the director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University. He is the author of many research articles regarding direct air capture, investors in the energy industry, reaching net-zero emissions, and more topics. David, who continues to serve as a consultant and policy adviser for companies and institutions, wrote a report for Engine No. 1 regarding the future of decarbonization efforts and oil and gas. He received an A.B. in history and science from Harvard University in 1987 and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1997. David can be reached at david.victor@ucsd.edu.

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Thanks to Lindsey Gage, Adán Rubio, and Michael Tanner who make the Energy Thinks podcast possible.

[Interview recorded on July 29, 2021]