In the climate emergency, approaches that prioritise stability and consensus can appear conservative, lacking the urgency that rising emissions and temperatures require. Such stability may also leave policy-making open to bad faith actors seeking to solidify a consensus that serves their own interests.
At the same time, politicisation, which challenges the status quo and these entrenched interests, could also disrupt the processes of stable policy development, which are themselves deeply politicised. However, as contributors to this work demonstrate, effective climate policies require a balance: elements of stability alongside the ability to recognise threats and respond with consequential change, even if that requires substantial transformation of existing systems. Whether approached by academics, students or activists, the reality of this contested area will play a decisive role in determining life on Earth as the future emerges.
Social movements and climate as a political issue
This section of the book opens appropriately with Greta Thunberg’s arrival into international politics in 2018, the formation of the Fridays for Future movement, and an examination of the re-politicisation of climate policy in Germany. Together, these elements formed what became global movements around climate and social justice.
As climate change grew in political importance in Germany, movements such as Extinction Rebellion – founded in the UK in 2018 and rapidly spreading globally – began an international process illustrated by the contrasting positions of the German Greens, who advocated for stronger climate policies, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who have remained hostile to the idea of human-induced climate change.
Since 2018, the electoral success of far-right parties across many countries has increased their capacity to challenge climate action, prompting resistance from social movements, Green parties, other political parties, and the scientific community.
What started in Sweden travelled and changed in the process
California provides a partial picture of the changing nature of climate politics in the United States prior to the second Trump administration. The book highlights how localities, as part of political cultures, may offer important spaces for climate action and related local initiatives. The significance of this has become increasingly evident in the ways that the US states and communities are resisting elements of the Trump administration’s agenda, including on climate policy. Such local resistance to “climate complacent” governments can also be found elsewhere.
The volume also offers a fascinating examination of how climate issues have been received and acted upon within Muslim communities, with one chapter focusing on the UK. Since Muslims are neither uniform in attitudes nor in their political engagement within British society, it is unsurprising that responses to climate change, and the forms of protests arising since 2018, vary widely. Evidence presented suggests a general reluctance among British Muslims to engage in certain types of climate protests, despite awareness of the consequences of climate change for Muslim communities in the UK and globally. However, Muslim engagement in protests relating to Palestine following the Gaza invasion of 2022 has been highly evident. The chapter suggests that it is non-violent direct action and arrest that many Muslims are keen to avoid, mirroring the position of wider green movements in the UK.
Political economy of transformation and just transitions in coal-producing areas
Coal is examined in the book as a major driver of climate change and an area for transition policies. Whilst a core group of countries has begun to phase out coal, it is clear that others remain committed to its continued use, even whilst formally adopting climate targets.
Resistance to change in some US states predates the current Trump administration, while countries including Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Indonesia continue to exhibit high levels of dependence upon coal. When combined with the fossil fuel resurgence promoted by the current US administration, these cases illustrate that such states are very slow actors in achieving transitions away from coal. This is despite huge growth of renewables in countries such as China and India.
One chapter compares the energy transitions of Brazil and South Africa, while another examines how climate policy-related conflicts have emerged and been managed in China. Norway is also presented as a case study of continued exploitation of North Sea fossil fuel reserves alongside climate targets.
We need to talk about peat
Peatlands everywhere offer a substantial carbon store when they remain intact or are successfully restored. This could be coupled with wetland renovation, flood mitigation, and enhanced biodiversity. A chapter focusing on peatlands in the UK notes that around 80% of peatlands are currently degraded, making them net carbon sources rather than carbon sinks. The Committee on Climate Change has drawn attention to this issue, and both Scotland and the UK have integrated peatlands restoration into their broader net zero strategies.
The chapter also examines the political and economic barriers to effective peatland protection. The commercial use of peat compost was banned for amateur gardeners in 2024 but remains permitted for professional growers with a general ban not expected until 2030. Peat burning and the abuse of peatlands for grouse and pheasant shooting illustrates an immunity of the wealthiest from climate policy constraints. Moors are treated as farmland rather than protected environments, contributing to the nature-depleting features of UK environment policies. Since peatlands account for 8% of UK’s land area, and 20% in Scotland, there are positive climate benefits in their maintenance and restoration.
The extensive scope of stability and politicisation
The book covers a wide range of issues related to stability and politicisation in climate policy. These include the financial dimensions of climate action, framework climate laws such as the UK’s Climate Change Act, and a strong challenge to the idea that an apolitical approach to climate policy is possible. There are issues of resistance from both the public and vested interests to some essential climate measures, which are managed at national level and within the contested context of climate conferences.
A recurring theme is the argument that urgent action required by climate crisis demands system change, including, in some cases, disruptive forms of politics. Consensus around net zero and associated technological ‘solutions’, such as carbon removal and carbon capture and storage is strongly contested. These approaches raise difficult questions about continued support given to fossil fuel industries assuming such technologies can be scaled up or used widely enough to have a meaningful impact.
Conclusions for life on Earth
This book proposes two major conclusions. First, achieving the rapid emissions reductions which are now urgently needed demands that governments accept the need for system change and act accordingly, preferably through international agreement. Second, the measures implemented to date, including uneven and slow-moving commitments to net zero, have failed to reduce global emissions or temperatures.
The authors note that several key sectors, such as aviation, shipping, construction involving concrete and steel, and large areas of global land use remain comparatively untouched areas in climate policy. In short, the authors argue for the development of sector-specific, carbon-negative policies, supported by just transitions which incorporate intersectional considerations, wherever applicable, and quickly. The overall message is stark: without faster action, the future being shaped by current climate policies is an inhospitable one for our grandchildren.
Author’s note: Much that is written about the critical issue of the climate emergency is behind paywalls, subscription barriers, or the high cost of academic books. However, this very informative volume is available online for anyone who wants to read or consult it:
Comments? We want to hear them. Please write to editor@westenglandbylines.co.uk
