Nicolas Graham is a Banting postdoctoral fellow in the department of sociology at UBC. His research focuses on the political economy of decarbonization and energy transition and seeks to understand the forces and actors enabling and obstructing effective and just climate action. Current research focuses on two streams.

1. Corporate power and climate obstruction. This work addresses organized efforts to prevent, delay, and circumvent robust action on climate change, with a focus on Canada and the United States. Research has examined the economic organization and political-cultural influence of the fossil fuel sector, including via political lobbying, the entrenchment of fossil-fuel interests in state research and innovation agencies and the formation of fossil-linked think-tank and advocacy networks.
2. The political economy of decarbonization and energy transition. Nick’s current research at UBC investigates the construction and evolution of a ‘green growth’ or ‘clean growth’ project of climate change action in Canada, analyzing the policy-planning networks and discourses emerging to advance the project. Broadly, it aims to provide insight into the prospects and limitations of this project, which has become a predominant framework for addressing climate change.