Can democracy solve climate change?
Yes, I think it can and I think it must. There is only one way that we can alter the patterns of peoples’ behaviour and that’s through consent. However, I think that you cannot tackle climate change without first tackling the democratic deficit; you’re not going to get people
to do things only because the centre says it’s a good thing. People have to feel they have some control over the decisions that are made and that they have a set of choices before them in shaping those decisions. So I think you can tackle it through democracy but not without some reform to the democratic system we see operating in most Western countries.