MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE INFLUENCE OF INCUMBENT INDUSTRIES ON MISSION-ORIENTED INNOVATION POLICY TARGETING CARBON LOCK-IN 

Payne Institute Fellow Sara Hastings-Simon and Eliot Tretter write about how mission-oriented innovation to address climate change, a moonshot or Manhattan project for climate, is an approach that promises to address climate change by achieving net  zero carbon emissions. However, even with significant technical advances, successfully reaching this goal would dramatically reduce the market for fossil fuels.  This paper explores how mission-oriented innovation potentially impacts and is impacted
by incumbent industries and describes how in the case of Alberta’s fossil-fuel industry, regional incumbents influenced the establishment of a mission they saw as a direct threat to their market.  September 8, 2023.