***I was granted an ARC of this via Netgalley from the publisher.***

Climate change is going to be a real problem in the future, and we have to find solutions for it now or face the consequence of inaction in the future. The book, The Case of Climate Capitalism: Economic Solutions for the Climate Crisis written by Tom Rand presents one way that we can reach a solution. His view is that a purely ideological political solution will take too long or be impossible to meet the challenges of climate change. Instead, a more centrist solution is needed where capitalism is revolutionized to meet the climate threat head-on. Using market forces and some government intervention we can move to a place where our economies put a premium on reducing carbon emission. Some solutions include carbon pricing, flex-reg, a green bank, green bonds structured in a way that the cost of losses to the government is low, providing investors with climate change risk assessment or their investment, linking corporate bonuses to carbon emissions reduction and much more. The author doesn’t paint a rosy picture where these changes will be easy or won’t fly in the faces of peoples held beliefs. But with climate change such a pressing issue and the current measures lackluster, can we afford the alternative of not being radical enough? (the changes proposed aren’t actually all that radical but to some, they maybe) The author does a good job of convincing the reader the answer is a resounding no.

Rating: 4/5 stars. Would recommend to a friend.

Let’s cut to the chase - whilst this book isn’t perfect by any means, it should be required reading by all government ministers and senior civil servants, not forgetting all Chief Executives, Directors of Finance and other Board members of ALL enterprises. The author, Tom Rand, is well qualified to provide this interesting and different approach to the problems facing all humanity if climate change is not mitigated. His book offers, perhaps,, a glimmer of hope that there are practical ways to conscript the practices and techniques of managed capitalism to develop and expand the necessary technologies if climate change mitigation is to be more than warm words.

As such, the book is a welcome change from the hand-wringing commentaries on climate change that can engender a feeling of despair. Rand doesn’t suggest that anything he proposes is easy; he particularly regrets the passage of time from the dawning realisation that climate change presented an existential threat to humanity during which little has been done, given the scale of the problem. He also reminds us that one of those providing an early warning of the scale of the problem facing humanity was one Margaret Thatcher, a novel position in which to find this hate figure of many on the hard left, who have come to the same conclusion over climate change much later but have little to offer other than a retreat to a pre-industrial way of life. Rand, in contrast, believes that the tools and techniques of capitalism - necessarily managed with, and sometimes by, the public sector - can still help humanity to scrape in at a net temperature increase of 3 degrees Celsius.

Readers looking for technical details of the measures to head off global warming will not find in this book a rich seam of climate mitigation technologies. However, this engineer turned physical science teacher found the author’s directions of travel for promising developments credible and likely to be worth pursuing. As a Canadian, Rand draws much of his background information and examples from Canada. Readers from elsewhere may find this less than ideally transparent, but it doesn’t invalidate the general thrust of his approach. The fact that he CAN provide examples and working practices actually serves to add to the weight of his argument, even if the examples are from a less familiar context.

If there is a criticism it may be that the book can be a little repetitive and would probably have benefited from a more rigorous editing. The key messages are actually fairly basic and deserve not to be obscured by repetition and less than wholly relevant detail. Conversely, there are just a few examples where, again, a more careful editing might have identified jargon that is likely to be familiar to an economist or fund manager but, perhaps, less clear to a lay reader.

But.......back to this review’s opening remarks. It’s a book that deserves the widest readership. It will - intriguingly, at the same time - terrify the reader, whilst giving her/him some grounds for optimism that the more terrifying scenarios can be avoided if we act NOW!

What a book - it's a somewhat objective account looking to bridge the gap between left and right climate change policies. It's slightly too 'right wing' for my personal politics but is an essential read in this environmental era.

This is a very stupid book in which the author is unable to decide if he is a capitalist or an environmentalist. You either believe in individualism (liberty and freedom) or you favor collectivism. You may not and can not favor both. Oil and water do not mix.

This is one perspective, and I'm not smart enough or well-enough informed to argue with it. The info is well presented and clear and there's a lot to digest. It seems like the author has realistic and reasonable ideas, although I'm sure some will find flaws. Unfortunately, I'm pretty confident things won't turn out as predicted here (because predict the future), but I'd still recommended this. Readers are bound to learn some things along the way. This is such a vital topic, this book should be one of the books those interested in the topic should read.

I really appreciate the NetGalley advanced copy for review!!