Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change

This book persuasively explains how asking the wrong questions makes it impossible to put the right information in the hands of policymakers when it comes to climate change. It's wordy, which makes it a bit of a slog for laypeople. But it does a great job of reframing the approach governments need to take to solve this urgent problem. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

An excellent and hopeful approach to understanding the risks of climate change and what we need to do, now, to mitigate them. Simon Sharpe clearly understands a lot about the dynamics of technology and market changes, and as a result the UK has been a leader in electricity sector decarbonization. And this approach to climate negotiations is a breath of fresh air. There's a lot of really good material here on best practices in local, national, and worldwide greenhouse gas mitigation. That said, the author's sophomoric assault on economics is rather ridiculous. He doesn't understand that supply and demand curves are all about dynamics, rather than a mythical static equilibrium. And although it's true that carbon taxes have small advantages over cap-and-trade, the author grossly overstates them. The US experience with cap-and-trade in SO2 emissions reduction illustrates how it can outperform the dynamics which Sharpe describes here. On balance, this book is a great read.