What can we really do about the climate emergency? The inconvenient truth is that we are causing the climate crisis with our carbon intensive lifestyles and that fixing – or even just slowing – it will affect all of us. But it can be done.
What can we really do about the climate emergency? The inconvenient truth is that we are causing the climate crisis with our carbon intensive lifestyles and that fixing - or even just slowing - it will affect all of us. But it can be done. In Net Zero, economist Dieter Helm addresses the action we all need to take to tackle the climate emergency: personal, local, national and global. Reducing our own carbon consumption is the first step. Helm argues that we, the ultimate polluters, should pay based on how much carbon the products we buy produce. We need a carbon price, and one that applies to everything and everywhere, from flights, to food and farming. The goal of net zero carbon emissions needs a rethink and this book sets out how to do it in a plan that could and would work. Do this and we make no further contribution to global warming, in a way that embraces sustainable economic growth and does not harm other aspects of the environment in the process. There is a solution and we must find it. Everything is at stake.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
Ending the fossil fuel industry is the only credible path for climate policy Around the world, countries and companies are setting net-zero carbon emissions targets. But what will it mean if those targets are achieved? One possibility is that fossil fuel companies will continue to produce billions of tons of atmospheric CO2 while relying on a symbiotic industry to scrub the air clean. Focusing on emissions draws our attention away from the real problem: the point of production. The fossil fuel industry must come to an end but will not depart willingly; governments must intervene. By embracing a politics of rural-urban coalitions and platform governance, climate advocates can build the political power needed to nationalize the fossil fuel industry and use its resources to draw carbon out of the atmosphere.
Reaching Net Zero: What It Takes to Solve the Global Climate Crisis addresses the imminent need to fully understand the causes, effects, and evidence of global warming; due to the large amount of climate disinformation and complexity of much of the available valid science, this book addresses the science of global warming in a concise, readable manner while providing an in-depth reference for readers who want more details or to study the sources of information. This book also investigates potential practical next steps of interest to concerned scientists, engineers, and citizens, with an aim to further discuss and achieve the eventual Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 'Net Zero' goals. Solving the problem of reaching net zero requires educating others to support the changes that must occur and to provide the possible solutions required. This is a necessary read for academics in climate and environmental science, and specialists such as those in earth science or environmental studies, covering the science, technology, economics, politics, international, and other issues involved in doing something about global warming. It is also important for those interested in global warming and anyone involved in decision-making processes and legislation that deal with reduction in carbon footprints. - Provides in-depth discussion of understanding the problem of global warming, with clear explanations of the science behind global warming and climate change - Features case studies of successes and failures in reducing carbon footprints, with advised potential solutions for reaching net zero - Takes a realistic approach to the problems and solutions of global warming in light of all available evidence across multiple disciplines
CLIMATE CHANGE and the road to NET-ZERO is a story of how humanity has broken free from the shackles of poverty, suffering, and war and for the first time in human history grown both population and prosperity. It's also a story of how a single species has reconfigured the natural world, repurposed the Earth's resources, and begun to re-engineer the climate. The book uses these conflicting narratives to explore the science, economics, technology, and politics of climate change. NET-ZERO blows away the entrenched idea that solving global warming requires a trade-off between the economy and environment, present and future generations, or rich and poor, and reveals why a twenty-year transition to a zero carbon system is a win-win solution for all on planet Earth. From the Author "I wrote Climate Change and the road to Net-Zero to provide a generalist reader with a clear, comprehensive, and objective take on the issues surrounding climate change and air pollution. The book walks the reader through a history of energy, innovation, and the rise of human civilisation; how scientists have come to understand our past climate and can now forecast future change; the problems economists encounter as they attempt to piece together the potential monetary and social damages from climate inaction; and a technology agnostic assessment of potential climate change solutions (from climate-engineering to mitigation) including their costs, risks, and limitations. The book demonstrates why sustainable technologies such as wind, solar, and batteries get cheaper with scale of production, not time, and why a rapid transition to a fully-fledged net-zero system will end up significantly cheaper than remaining bound to fossil fuels, whilst also avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, and preventing nearly eight million premature deaths each year from air pollution. I hope Climate Change and the road to Net-Zero delivers an understanding of humanity's relationship with Earth that is as intriguing as Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin's The Human Planet, or Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens. I very much hope too that the book conveys the passion and call to action of David Wallace-Well's The Uninhabitable Earth, coupled with the sober economic analysis of The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus or Capital in the 21st century by Thomas Piketty, and that it provides the technical rigour of Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air by David MacKay, the rationality of Hans Rosling's Factfulness, and the eternal hope of The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. I believe net-zero will be cheaper, cleaner, safer, more reliable, more sustainable, and will create more employment than if we remain bound to fossil fuels. After reading the book, I hope you will agree." Mathew Hampshire-Waugh, Author.
Natural capital is what nature provides to us for free. Renewables—like species—keep on coming, provided we do not drive them towards extinction. Non-renewables—like oil and gas—can only be used once. Together, they are the foundation that ensures our survival and well-being, and the basis of all economic activity. In the face of the global, local, and national destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems, economist Dieter Helm here offers a crucial set of strategies for establishing natural capital policy that is balanced, economically sustainable, and politically viable. Helm shows why the commonly held view that environmental protection poses obstacles to economic progress is false, and he explains why the environment must be at the very core of economic planning. He presents the first real attempt to calibrate, measure, and value natural capital from an economic perspective and goes on to outline a stable new framework for sustainable growth. Bristling with ideas of immediate global relevance, Helm’s book shifts the parameters of current environmental debate. As inspiring as his trailblazing The Carbon Crunch, this volume will be essential reading for anyone concerned with reversing the headlong destruction of our environment.
• New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.
Climate Change: Evidence and Causes is a jointly produced publication of The US National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. Written by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists and reviewed by climate scientists and others, the publication is intended as a brief, readable reference document for decision makers, policy makers, educators, and other individuals seeking authoritative information on the some of the questions that continue to be asked. Climate Change makes clear what is well-established and where understanding is still developing. It echoes and builds upon the long history of climate-related work from both national academies, as well as on the newest climate-change assessment from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It touches on current areas of active debate and ongoing research, such as the link between ocean heat content and the rate of warming.
This book presents new research related to climate change policies and effects. It discusses the implications of climate change on issues pertaining to international relations and economic development, and the question of how climate change could jeopardize the international system as we have known it until today. It aims to provide an empirical basis and epistemological framework to discuss the effects of climate change on economic growth, social development and welfare as a global phenomenon influenced by policies carried out transnationally and by national governments. Case studies from around the globe are presented.