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.

Section I: Climate change as problem.- Chapter 1: Defining the problem: The complex dimensions of the grave new threats we face.- Chapter 2: Framing the problem: How the climate change message is constructed.- Chapter 3: Addressing the problem: Understanding low-carbon transition with the social sciences.- Section II: Development pathways and the low-carbon future.- Chapter 4: Development models: Lessons from international development.- Chapter 5: Planning future pathways: Implications and outcomes of scenario studies.- Section III: Pathways in developed and developing countries.- Chapter 6: Development and sustainability in the wealthiest regions: Taking the high road?.- Chapter 7: Development and sustainability in the global South: Different routes to transition and a sustainable society.- Section IV: Pathways to a low-carbon future.- Chapter 8: Climate capitalism: How far can it get us?.- Chapter 9: Identifying an emerging paradigm: Towards ecosocialism?.- Chapter 10: Options and prospects for a global low-carbon transition.

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 the coreof development can be labelled “ecosocialism” – a concept which must be tempered against the conditions created by Trumpism and Brexit.

“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)

Analyzes how we can transition to a low-carbon society Demonstrates that development pathways exist that do not mirror the carbon intensive trajectories of the global North Exposes the political-economic systems that favour the status quo