Academic Science and the Public Good in the Age of Climate Change

• In Event: 067 - Section on Science, Knowledge and Technology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Science and Governance

Abstract

In 2007, British Petroleum and the University of California-Berkeley entered into the largest-to-date university-industry research partnership in the history of the United States to found the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) for the development of biofuels. In the public controversy around the partnership, contenders agreed the academic science should serve the public good, but put forth starkly opposite views on whether the EBI and its agenda fit with this responsibility. This paper situates the EBI in the growing category of “strategic corporate alliances,” identifies its specificities (its embrace of an applied mission and its claim to address the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of biofuels), and analyzes the arguments for and against the partnership. Through focused comparisons with the Cold War era and with the controversy around the UCB-Novartis agreement, I argue that the EBI represents a new turn in how university scientists intervene in political struggles over alternative technoscientific futures. Their attempts to scientize the debate on biofuels and strong confidence in risk management augment expert and corporate power in the politics of clean energy.

Author

• Elif Kale-Lostuvali, University of California