Bentley B. Allan
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21218
bentley.allan [at] jhu.edu
I am an Associate Professor of Political Science an affiliate of the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University. I conduct both academic research and practical work on the political economy of decarbonization, clean energy supply chains, industrial policy, the history and theory of international order, and the role of science in politics. In my engagement work, I collaborate widely with governments, industry, and civil society to advance climate solutions.
I am the founder and co-director of the The Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab. The current work of the lab encompasses distilling international best practices for industrial policy, the politics and technology of clean energy supply chains, and understanding emerging global institutions to support industrial policy. The lab has been generously supported by the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute and the Center for Economy and Society at Johns Hopkins University.
I am currently working on a second book entitled Climate Formations: Nature, Knowledge, and Geopolitics in the History of Climate Politics. My first book, Scientific Cosmology and International Orders (Cambridge University Press, 2018), won the American Political Science Association’s Don K. Price Award for the best book in Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics. My academic articles have been published in International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Review of International Political Economy, and European Journal of International Relations.
Through collaborations with the Transition Accelerator and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, I work to build coalitions for net zero and advance deep decarbonization. His public-facing writing appears regularly in national newspapers and online magazines. In this capacity, I have advised governments and businesses on net-zero industrial policy and supply chain strategy. From 2020 to 2021, I served as associate director at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions where I funded and supported climate solutions research. Since 2021, I have worked with the Accelerator and Carnegie to lead strategic roadmapping exercises for the battery metals, sustainable aviation fuels, and mass timber industries. I have also conducted action-oriented analysis on renewables, critical minerals, hydrogen, heat pumps, steel, and more.
From 2020-21, I was the Associate Director at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions where I supported climate solutions projects that are co-developed by researchers and decision-makers. These projects covered a wide range of topics including battery chemistry, medium and heavy-duty procurement, innovation policy, climate finance, thermal energy storage, decarbonizing port operations, coastal adaptation, and more.
Decarbonization requires collaboration between policy-makers, industries, civil society organizations, and academics. Social scientists of all kinds can have an important role to play if they are willing to engage.