Title: The Carbon Crunch: How We're Getting Climate Change Wrong-And How to Fix It
Abstract: DIETER HELM: The Carbon Crunch: How We're Getting Climate Change Wrong-and How to Fix It. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012, 273 pp.Climate change is one of the biggest problems of our age, and one that is the subject of great debate. Policies to tackle climate change, and especially anthropogenic (human-induced) temperature rise, have been introduced in many countries, notably in the European Union. But recently it has been becoming increasingly recognised that the main goal of such policies-reduction of carbon emissions-has not been reached. While in economic crisis and with no support from major global players (such as the USA, China and India), the EU is ineffective in its attempts to reduce greenhouse gases, and its main policy instrument, namely the European Trading System, has not lived up to expectations. Dieter Helm's Carbon Crunch. How We're Getting Climate Change Wrong-and How to Fix It fits perfectly into this debate, taking a discussion among environmentalists, politicians, scientists, and directing it at the layman. Dieter Helm is the right person to write such a book. As an economist, professor of energy policy, and advisor to UK governments and the EU Energy Commissioner, he has a thorough theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject, and an accessible style which allows him to address this book to a wide range of readers. Although written in simple language, it is nevertheless a hard-hitting book.The title of the book reflects the content accurately. The author refutes many myths and erroneous views on issues related to climate change abatement, and shows how to approach them in a rational way. The book consists of three main parts (eleven chapters altogether), in which Dieter Helm looks into why we should worry climate change, why solutions to the problem have, to date, failed, and finally how to tackle this issue in future.In first free chapters, constituting Part One, the author explains why climate change and rising temperature is so serious, why greenhouse gas emissions are increasing, and who is responsible for this. The threat posed by climate change is already recognised by scientists, but at the same time public opinion is becoming more indifferent or even sceptical taking action. This arises from scepticism about the science, the economics and the willingness of others to do much the problem. Dieter Helm recognises that both threatening people with catastrophic visions of the future and pretending that the costs of mitigating climate change are insignificant are counterproductive. Instead, he advises explanations of why climate change is so serious, and what the likely impact of various degrees of warming might be. He leaves no room for illusions the cause of greenhouse gas emissions-they increase because of economic and population growth. This rising demand on energy is met mainly by coal, which is the worst (environmentally) of fossil fuels. But it is not straightforward to judge who is responsible for that-whether it is the developed countries which, despite current reductions, had previously raised the emissions, or the fast developing states, mainly China and India, which are now adding now the most emissions. In Part One, the author aims to focus on the nature of climate change and all related problems. The impression after reading this is that we already know quite well what the issue is about; there are even economic policies and agreements aimed at addressing it. Nevertheless, no reductions have occurred, and emission levels are even rising.In Part Two, the author explains why, in spite of well-documented scientific knowledge, so little is being achieved. Over five chapters he analyses the major components of current policy framework, which were supposed to tackle the problem effectively-renewables, energy efficiency, nuclear, deployment of fossil fuels, and the Kyoto agreement. This is the most striking section of the book for all those convinced of the legitimacy of their views on climate change mitigation, as the author mercilessly refutes many myths and fallacious views on all those issues. …
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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