David G. Victor - Mentions and Appearances
[On making progress on climate change] We’re in a stage where no one really knows what to do. And it’s easier to try out things in small groups and figure out what works. The problem is that the climate scientists say we don’t have time for all this slow, cautious experimentation anymore, because the train is speeding. That’s the nature of the problem. It’s the result of having spent a long time talking about the climate problem in formats that really didn’t make progress.
[On recent research in climate science] Global warming is accelerating. [These] three trends [falling air pollution enabling more of the sun’s warmth to reach the Earth’s surface,aerosol pollutants reflecting sunlight, and a long-term natural climate cycle in the Pacific entering a warm phase] will combine over the next 20 years to make climate change faster and more furious than anticipated.
[On the urgency of climate science versus the political reaction] These two ships are sailing in opposite directions. In one direction, the science is showing that the problem is more - even more severe than we originally thought. In the other direction, we're learning that the political challenges in making big reductions are more challenging than people had imagined.
[On climate change] There's been a lot of progress kind of in bits and pieces here and there, but it's not progress that adds up to the 50, 60, 80 percent reduction in global emissions that you need to stop global warming.
[On COP24, and the Paris Agreement climate negotiations] Rulebooks are important, but it is easy to over-state their relevance because the Paris process is, by design, decentralised – it relies on countries and regions to take the lead with pledges of action and commitments to take the climate problem seriously.
[On Obama Administration fuel economy standards for vehicles] They were a big deal because vehicle travel is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. And they sent a long-term signal to Detroit that they need to make vehicles that produce fewer emissions. Attempting to loosen them has sent the exact opposite signal to Detroit.
[On the Trump's administration's national security arguments to boost coal production] When you want to intervene in the energy markets, national security is the nuclear option.That's what they tried to do with the reliability order, and it sounds like what they're trying to do here.
[On Donald Trump's comments on Nord Stream 2 at the UN General Assembly in September 2018] While Germany’s intake of fuel delivered by ship in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is on the rise, what really matters is diversity and flexibility of supply. What he is saying is completely wrong.
[On President Trump's remarks at the U.N. General Assembly] I can see some case for concern about excess dependence on Russian gas within the gas market....what matters is diversity and flexibility of supply.
[On the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco] There's a conspicuous effort to do the opposite of what the Trump administration is doing. That's going to be highly visible because of the politics inside the country.