New Jeremy Leggett book shows ‘carbon war’ being won

A new book released by Carbon Tracker Initiative chairman Jeremy Leggett shows a shift in the ‘carbon war’ and those fighting to reduce emissions and avoid dangerous climate change could win.

The Winning of the Carbon War is downloadable free of charge and the ten part series will see a new section published on a monthly basis in the build up to the key UN Paris climate talks scheduled for December.

The book will provide a ‘live’ account of the global energy and climate developments of 2015.

Leggett, a social entrepreneur and author, also chairs renewable energy firm Solarcentury as well as the CTI thinktank.

At the London Stock Exchange, Leggett said: “My book ‘Winning the Carbon War’ will paint a narrative of humanity in a race, a kind of civil war, in which believers in a safe future fuelled by endless sunlight and related form of clean or cleaner energy combat defenders of finite carbon fuels who are often careless of the impact they have on the world by clinging to coal, oil and gas. I have fought for the light side for a quarter of a century, in different ways, as it lost battle after battle to the dark side. However, in 2013 the tide began to turn. Since then, it has become increasingly clear that the light side can win the war. Can, not will: the title of the book is precisely worded. My diary, as an observer on the front line, tells of one person’s story of those turnaround years, and what they can mean for the world.”

The first section of the new book identifies a series of events that have combined to create a ‘tipping point’ in the demise of the fossil fuel industries.

Leggett argues that three emerging trends – the cost of deploying renewables falling, the cost of delivering hydrocarbons rising, and the politics of climate abatement showing signs of aligning – is resulting in the tipping point is now being realised.

Leggett said: “The crisis in energy is going to be huge, is a clear and present danger right now (for those with the eyes to see), and is arguably going to grow into the biggest story ever: not just in business and economy, but in the history of civilisation, given the way the climate dimensions threatens the human future…We are in a strong position to win the carbon war.”