Abstract

The collective action problem is any instance where a problem (such as reducing carbon emissions in Cambridge) requires the actions of many individuals, but where there are disincentives for any one individual to take the necessary actions in pursuit of a common community goal. The most well known example is the Tragedy of the Commons. The example we will examine today is reducing carbon emissions from energy use in the 65,000+ buildings of Cambridge. To reach this goal, we (meaning about 100 organisations in Cambridge) began the Cambridge Retrofit programme in 2013. It brought together nine categories of ‘actors’ in the community to coordinate their aims and resources and actions so the carbon footprint of the city would be significantly reduced in support of the UK and global climate policy goals. In this talk we will look at how Cambridge Retrofit was organised and consider strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, of the programme when confronting the collective action problem.

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