Book Summary and Reviews of The Carbon Crunch by Dieter Helm

The Carbon Crunch by Dieter Helm

The Carbon Crunch

How We're Getting Climate Change Wrong--and How to Fix It

by Dieter Helm

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  • Published:
  • Nov 2012, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Despite commitments to renewable energy and two decades of international negotiations, global emissions continue to rise. Coal, the most damaging of all fossil fuels, has actually risen from 25% to almost 30% of world energy use. And while European countries have congratulated themselves on reducing emissions, they have increased their carbon imports from China and other developing nations, who continue to expand their coal use. As standards of living increase in developing countries, coal use can only increase as well - and global temperatures along with it.

In this hard-hitting book, Dieter Helm looks at how and why we have failed to tackle the issue of global warming and argues for a new, pragmatic rethinking of energy policy - from transitioning from coal to gas and eventually to electrification of transport, to carbon pricing and a focus on new technologies. Lucid, compelling and rigorously researched, this book will have a lasting impact on how we think about climate change.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Helm's credentials couldn't be more impressive…This intelligent though depressing tome should inform future debates." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. An optimistically levelheaded book about actually dealing with global warming." - Kirkus Reviews

"Europeans are too committed to their regulatory approach to change now. But Americans, Chinese and Indians would learn a lot from Mr Helm about cutting carbon emissions rationally. And all readers will get a cogent account of how self-defeating current global climate-change policies are turning out to be." - The Economist

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Author Information

Dieter Helm

Dieter Helm CBE is professor of energy policy, University of Oxford and Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford. He is a member of the Economic Advisory Committee to the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and Chair of the Natural Capital Committee.

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