Climate Capitalism Global Warming and the Transformation of the Global Economy

Confronting climate change is now understood as a problem of 'decarbonising' the global economy: ending our dependence on carbon-based fossil fuels. This book explores whether such a transformation is underway, how it might be accelerated, and the complex politics of this process. Given the dominance of global capitalism and free-market ideologies, decarbonisation is dependent on creating carbon markets and engaging powerful actors in the world of business and finance. Climate Capitalism assesses the huge political dilemmas this poses, and the need to challenge the entrenched power of many corporations, the culture of energy use, and global inequalities in energy consumption. Climate Capitalism is essential reading for anyone wanting to better understand the challenge we face. It will also inform a range of student courses in environmental studies, development studies, international relations, and business programmes.

Preface; Acknowledgements; List of acronyms; 1. Introducing climate capitalism; 2. Histories of climate, histories of capitalism; 3. Climate for business: from threat to opportunity; 4. Mobilising the power of investors; 5. Searching for flexibility, creating a market; 6. Caps, trades, and profits; 7. Buying our way out of trouble; 8. The limits of climate capitalism; 9. Governing the carbon economy; 10. What futures for climate capitalism?; Conclusions; Glossary; Index.

What are the best economic policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change? Climate Capitalism assesses the politics and economics of market-led solutions to climate change. It is important reading for anyone wanting to better understand the challenge, including students on courses in environmental studies and business programmes.

Peter Newell is Professor of International Development at the University of East Anglia. He has worked on climate change as a researcher, consultant, teacher and activist for over 16 years. He has undertaken work for international organisations such UNDP and GEF, provided policy advice to a number of different governments and worked for NGOs such as Climate Network Europe and Friends of the Earth. He is an ESRC Climate Change Leadership Fellow and is the author of Climate for Change (Cambridge University Press, 2000), the first book on the role of non-state actors in global climate politics.
Matthew Paterson is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ottawa. He has been researching climate change politics since 1989. He wrote the first book in political science focused solely on climate politics, Global Warming and Global Politics (1996), which is still widely used as a key text to understanding climate change politics. His book Automobile Politics: Ecology and Cultural Political Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2007), has won the prestigious International Political Economy Book Prize.