The Political Economy of the Low-Carbon Transition

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Climate Change as Problem

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Defining the Problem: The Complex Dimensions of the Grave New Threats We Face

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 3-28

   3. Framing the Problem: How the Climate Change Message is Constructed

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 29-55

   4. Addressing the Problem: Understanding Low-Carbon Transition with the Social Sciences

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 57-86

3. Development Pathways and the Low-Carbon Future

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-87

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   2. Development Models: Lessons from International Development

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 89-113

   3. Planning Future Pathways: Implications and Outcomes of Scenario Studies

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 115-141

4. Pathways in Developed and Developing Countries

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 143-143

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   2. Development and Sustainability in the Wealthiest Regions: Taking the High Road?

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 145-171

   3. Development and Sustainability in the Global South: Different Routes to Transition and a Sustainable Society

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 173-200

5. Pathways to a Low-Carbon Future

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 201-201

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   2. Climate Capitalism : How Far Can It Get Us?

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 203-229

   3. Identifying an Emerging Paradigm: Towards Ecosocialism?

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 231-258

   4. Options and Prospects for a Global Low-Carbon Transition

      • Peadar Kirby, Tadhg O’Mahony

      Pages 259-290

6. Back Matter

   Pages 291-303

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This book addresses the global need to transition to a low-carbon society and economy by 2050. The authors interrogate the dominant frames used for understanding this challenge and the predominant policy approaches for achieving it. Highlighting the techno-optimism that informs our current understanding and policy options, Kirby and O’Mahony draw on the lessons of international development to situate the transition within a political economy framework. Assisted by thinking on future scenarios, they critically examine the range of pathways being implemented by both developed and developing countries, identifying the prevailing forms of climate capitalism led by technology. Based on evidence that this is inadequate to achieve a low-carbon and sustainable society, the authors identify an alternative approach. This advance emerges from community initiatives, discussions on postcapitalism and debates about wellbeing and degrowth. The re-positioning of society and environment at thecore of development can be labelled “ecosocialism” – a concept which must be tempered against the conditions created by Trumpism and Brexit.

• Population
• Energy
• GHG emissions
• 2050
• Governance
• Technology
• Low-Carbon Transition
• Techno-Optimism
• Political Economy
• Climate change policy
• International development
• Developing countries
• Global South
• Sustainability
• Wellbeing
• Future scenarios
• Degrowth
• Ecosocialism
• Low-carbon society
• Low-carbon economy
• climate change

“In a clear and powerful argument, grounded in evidence from a wide range of sources, this book will persuade you that only eco-socialism can solve the climate crisis and ensure our survival.” (Professor Jacklyn Cock, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)

“Solutions to the wicked problem of climate change go far beyond technological innovations and require economic and social transformation. Kirby and O’Mahony provide a concise account of the dilemma and a guide to some ways forward.” (Professor Max Koch, Lund University, Sweden, author of Capitalism and Climate Change, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)

 “This book perceives the climate crisis as embedded in the overarching crisis of modernity, drawing attention to the deep drivers threatening our future, such as dominant values, norms, and institutions.” (Paul Raskin, President of the Tellus Institute, USA)

“This book could not be more timely. It puts the political economy at centre-stage, where it belongs. It links ‘low-carbon’ development with markets and political drivers, highlights the limits of technological responses, and the necessity and opportunity of political renewal.” (Corinne Le Quéré, University of East Anglia, UK)

“This book gives fresh insights into the political economy underpinning radical pathways to lowcarbon societies, with examples of successes.” (Terry Barker, University of Cambridge, UK)

• Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

  Peadar Kirby

• Finland Futures Research Centre, Turku School of Economics University of Turku, Tampere, Finland

  Tadhg O’Mahony

Peadar Kirby is Professor Emeritus of International Politics and Public Policy at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He has published widely on models of development, and on political economy. His latest book is Transitioning to a Post-Carbon Society: Degrowth, Austerity and Wellbeing, co-edited with Ernest Garcia and Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias (2017).

Tadhg O’Mahony is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in wellbeing and sustainability at the Finland Futures Research Centre at the University of Turku, Finland. He has published on a range of topics relating to climate change policy, sustainability, energy, wellbeing and future scenarios.

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