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Department of Political Science

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Dr Fergus Green

Fergus smiles into the camera in front of a blue background
Lecturer in Political Theory & Public Policy
Room: 3.01, 31 Tavistock Sq.
Email: fergus.green@ucl.ac.uk
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Biography

Fergus began his career as a lawyer in the Melbourne office of Australasian firm Allens Arthur Robinson (now Allens-Linklaters) from 2009–12, where he specialised in climate change, energy, water and environmental regulation. He then spent 7 years at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) in various capacities: he obtained an MSc in Philosophy & Public Policy from the Department of Philosophy (2012–13); he was then a Policy Analyst and Research Advisor to Professor Nicholas Stern at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment (2014–15); and finally completed an MRes in political science and PhD in political theory in the Department of Government (2015–19). From 2019–21, Fergus was a postdoctoral Researcher on the Fair Limits Project at the Ethics Institute, Utrecht University, and spent a brief stint back at the Grantham Research Institute in mid-2021 before starting at UCL.

Research

Fergus’ research traverses political theory, political economy, public policy and law. Much of his work is concerned with the transition to a low-carbon economy. He is currently working on the ESRC-funded project, “JUSTDECARB—Socially Just and Politically Robust Decarbonisation: A Knowledge Base and Toolkit for Policymakers”, and completing a book project on how governments should deal with transitional winners and losers from legal and policy changes. Through work on Green New Deal-style policy programmes, Fergus is pursuing longstanding interests in how decarbonisation, far from being a “burden”, can provide a basis for building more equal, prosperous and sustainable societies. Fergus has also written widely on the politics and governance of fossil fuels, including on “anti-fossil fuel norms” and the case for supply-side climate policy. He has been a co-author of UNEP’s fossil fuel Production Gap Report each year since its inception in 2019.

Publications

Journal Articles (selection)

  • "Fossil Free Zones: a proposal" (2022) Climate Policy (Online First).
  • “How Inequality Fuels Climate Change: The Climate Case for a Green New Deal” (2022) One Earth 5(6): 635–649 (with N. Healy).
  • “On the Merits and Limits of Nationalising the Fossil Fuel Industry” (2022). In J. Baggini (Ed.), Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, Volume 91—A Philosophers' Manifesto: Ideas and Arguments to Change the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 53–80 (with I. Robeyns).
  • “Ecological limits: science, justice, policy, and the good life” (2021) Philosophy Compass, 16(6), e12740.
  • “Engaged Climate Ethics” (2020) Journal of Political Philosophy. Online First (with E. Brandstedt).
  • “Legal Transitions without Legitimate Expectations” (2020) Journal of Political Philosophy 28: 397–420.
  • “Transitional assistance policies for just, equitable and smooth low-carbon transitions: who, what and how?” (2020) Climate Policy 20(8): 902–921 (with A. Gambhir).
  • “Cutting with Both Arms of the Scissors: the economic and political case for restrictive supply-side climate policies” (2018) 150 Climatic Change 73–87 (with R. Denniss).
  • “Anti-Fossil Fuel Norms” (2018) 150 Climatic Change 103–116.
  • “China’s changing economy: implications for its carbon dioxide emissions” (2017) 17 Climate Policy 423–442 (with N. Stern).

For a full list of publications, see https://fergusgreen.net/publications

Teaching

As of 2022-23, Fergus teaches:

Fergus is interested in supervising research students on contemporary political theory (especially the normative analysis of public policy), and on the politics and governance of climate change and low-carbon transitions.