Dr Steven R. Smith
University of Surrey
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Steve’s research interests intersect the moral, psychosocial, economic and political dimensions of the transition to sustainable prosperity. In addition to his research at the University of Surrey, he is part of the State of Tipping Points working group based at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter. This working group is producing the first State of Tipping Points Report to be launched at the COP 28 Conference, December 2023. Linked to this, Steve is on the editorial team of a special issue of Earth System Dynamics journal.
Steve’s PhD at the University of Surrey, supervised by Ian Christie, Alex Penn and Birgitta Gatersleben, addressed knowledge gaps in the field of climate politics and policy advocacy in the UK. He developed a typology and method for mapping the UK ‘ecosystem’ of actors, qualitatively analysed 100 expert views on the transition to net zero carbon, and argued for a more radical, science- and equity-based ‘rapid transition’ to net zero by 2035 at the latest.
Steve has authored a variety of peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, policy papers, articles and blogs. He was expert reviewer to the UN IPCC’s Second-Order Draft of Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report (AR6-WG3), and to the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Work w/ CUSP
Steven is collaborating with CUSP Co-Investigator Ian Christie to develop a new research project: From materialism to sustainable sufficiency: exploring the conditions for a radical shift in priorities among the affluent.
Technological innovations and ‘green growth’ are unlikely to be enough to achieve the radical transition to a sustainable future we need. Changes in consumption—above all in the affluent world – are needed. This research asks: what are the conditions under which affluent citizens in wealthier countries might embrace less consumption and values of sufficiency?
Selected publications
Smith, S.R. and Christie, I. (2023). Towards a rapid transition to net zero carbon in the UK: an adapted multilevel model for accelerating political and policy change. Forthcoming.
Smith, S.R. (2022). Towards an understanding of advocacy coalitions for rapid transition to net zero carbon in the United Kingdom. PhD Thesis. University of Surrey. https://doi.org/10.15126/thesis.900563
Smith, S.R. (2021). Political innovations for rapid transition—A conversation. Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). https://cusp.ac.uk/themes/p/blog-ss-political-innovations-for-rapid-transition/
Smith, S.R., and Christie, I. (2021). Knowledge Integration in the Politics and Policy of Rapid Transitions to Net Zero Carbon: A Typology and Mapping Method for Climate Actors in the UK. Sustainability, 13(2), 662. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/662
Smith, S.R., Christie, I., and Willis, R. (2020). Social tipping intervention strategies for rapid decarbonisation need to consider how change happens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(20), 10629-10630. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2002331117
Smith, S.R., and Christie, I. (2020). Cooperation in an age of emergency? Climate action as the catalyst for rapid transition towards strong sustainability. In A Diemer, E Nedelciu, M Schellens, M Morales and M Oostjdik, Paradigms, Models, Scenarios and Practices for Strong Sustainability (pp. 197 – -217). Paris. Oeconomia Editions.
Smith, S.R. (2017). Modelling “the expanding circle” of cooperation towards a sustainable future. European Journal of Sustainable Development, 6(4), 341-352. https://ojs.ecsdev.org/index.php/ejsd/article/view/575/572
