Significant progress in reconciling economic activities with environmental goals requires technological change. The automotive industry, in particular, needs to deploy large fleets of low-carbon vehicles in the following decades. This project empirically studies how original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers are becoming green. First, we document an unprecedented, globally coordinated move to green innovation for all actors in the industry. We then show that the industry initially seemed to have coordinated on fuel cell technologies, but that around 2005, the technological paradigm shifted to battery electric vehicles. Finally, we discuss the roles of three mechanisms that may have helped the industry coordinate on clean technologies: policies, the structure of production network, and cross-sectoral spillovers.

About the speaker:
Dr. Eugenie Dugoua is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics at the London School of Economics, in the Department of Geography and Environment. As an environmental economist, Eugenie works on topics at the intersection of environmental issues and innovation, and technological change. Her research interests lie primarily in understanding how policies, and more broadly speaking, institutions can influence innovation and science to make economic development sustainable for the environment and societies. Eugenie graduated with a Ph.D. in Sustainable Development from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in 2018. Her dissertation focused on the economics of the environment and technological change.

Registration:
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