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

Policy insider's compelling argument to reorganise our efforts in science, diplomacy, and economics to tackle climate change five times faster.

Simon Sharpe (Author)

9781009326490, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 April 2023

344 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.62 kg

'By persuasively shifting the narrative to encourage ambitious policy action, influential book's like Sharpe's becomes a part of the dynamic ecosystem that induces the clean innovation we desperately need.' Forbes

We need to act five times faster to avoid dangerous climate change. As Greenland melts, Australia burns, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, we think we know who the villains are: oil companies, consumerism, weak political leaders. But what if the real blocks to progress are the ideas and institutions that are supposed to be helping us? Five Times Faster is an inside story from Simon Sharpe, who has spent ten years at the forefront of climate change policy and diplomacy. In our fight to avoid dangerous climate change, science is pulling its punches, diplomacy is picking the wrong battles, and economics has been fighting for the other side. This provocative and engaging book sets out how we should rethink our strategies and reorganise our efforts in the fields of science, economics, and diplomacy, so that we can act fast enough to stay safe.

1. Introduction
Part I. Science: 2. Looking up at the dam
3. Knowing the least about what matters most
4. Telling the boiling frog what he needs to know
5. Runaway tipping points of no return
6. The meaning of conservative
7. More than science
8. Tell the truth
Part II. Economics: 9. Worse than useless
10. The allocation of scarce resources
11. The configuration of abundance
12. Not just fixing the foundations
13. Investing with our eyes open
14. Regulating for a free lunch
15. Stuck in first gear
16. Runaway tipping points of no return, revisited
17. Revolutionary
Part III. Diplomacy: 18. A foreseeable failure
19. The greatest public relations gamble in history
20. System change, not climate change
21. Better late than never
22. From coal to clean power
23. From oil to electric vehicles
24. From deforestation to sustainable development
25. The Breakthrough Agenda
26. Tipping cascades
27. Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Environmental management [RNF], Meteorology & climatology [RBP], Earth sciences [RB], Science funding & policy [PDK], Environment law [LNKJ], Environmental economics [KCN], Diplomacy [JPSD], International relations [JPS]