Book Description

CLIMATE CHANGE and the road to NET-ZERO is a story of how humanity has broken free from the shackles of poverty, suffering, and war and for the first time in human history grown both population and prosperity. It’s also a story of how a single species has reconfigured the natural world, repurposed the Earth’s resources, and begun to re-engineer the climate. The book uses these conflicting narratives to explore the science, economics, technology, and politics of climate change. NET-ZERO blows away the entrenched idea that solving global warming requires a trade-off between the economy and environment, present and future generations, or rich and poor, and reveals why a twenty-year transition to a zero carbon system is a win-win solution for all on planet Earth. Reviews  Readers' Favorite Five Stars “An excellent layman's perspective of the climate problem today, how it has evolved over time, and the different approaches to solving the problem. I recommend it highly.” - Mark Z. Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and author of 100% Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything. “Mathew brings his wide ranging experience of financial markets, particularly in modelling and forecasting, to add a unique insight to the climate challenge. On one hand, helping us understand how fossil fuels drove prosperity and let the world’s population escape the poverty trap, whilst on the other how rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere placed the world at mortal risk. In this book, Mathew’s financial understanding comes to the fore, revealing why we need a sound understanding of economics, climate science and financial modelling to give us the signals we need to act today.” - Mark Campanale, Executive Chairman of the Carbon Tracker Initiative and founder of the ‘unburnable carbon’ capital markets thesis. “Provides a clear understanding of the technical complexities of reaching zero carbon. Hampshire-Waugh approaches the subject with intellectual rigour, boundless curiosity, and compelling story telling. A must read for anyone interested in climate change and net-zero.” - Vincent Gilles, Chief Investment Officer at Clim8 Invest. “The book that says it all and answers all questions. Backed by data, analysis and science, Hampshire-Waugh explains how climate change, if left unchecked, threatens to unravel 200 years of human progress. But it need not end this way. The author shows that building a net zero carbon economy is within human reach through focused innovation, riding down the experience curve and reaching scale in clean energy technologies and solutions. Mathew shows how we can solve climate change and air pollution whilst driving development in the poorest parts of the world, and without compromise for those already accustomed to the highest quality of life.” - Geetu Sharma, Founder of AlphasFuture LLC, a sustainability focused investment business. About the Author Dr Mathew Hampshire-Waugh has spent the last decade working as an equity analyst at a global investment bank. He has worked with the top executives of many multi-billion-dollar companies and built relationships with many of the world’s largest investment managers. Mathew’s work centred on forecasting technology trends, financial performance, and the intrinsic value of companies involved in markets including renewable energy, electric cars, battery technology, and biofuels. Prior to his career in the banking industry, the author gained his doctorate in materials chemistry from University College London, where he worked on novel coatings and nano-materials for use in energy saving glazing and solar panel design. During his doctorate Mathew registered a patent for an efficiency enhancing coating for solar modules, published numerous scientific papers, and engaged in public speaking, consultancy, and media outreach. From the Author I wrote Climate Change and the road to Net-Zero to provide a generalist reader with a clear, comprehensive, and objective take on the issues surrounding climate change and air pollution. The book walks the reader through a history of energy, innovation, and the rise of human civilisation; how scientists have come to understand our past climate and can now forecast future change; the problems economists encounter as they attempt to piece together the potential monetary and social damages from climate inaction; and a technology agnostic assessment of potential climate change solutions (from climate-engineering to mitigation) including their costs, risks, and limitations. The book demonstrates why sustainable technologies such as wind, solar, and batteries get cheaper with scale of production, not time, and why a rapid transition to a fully-fledged net-zero system will end up significantly cheaper than remaining bound to fossil fuels, whilst also avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, and preventing nearly eight million premature deaths each year from air pollution. I hope Climate Change and the road to Net-Zero delivers an understanding of humanity’s relationship with Earth that is as intriguing as Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin’s The Human Planet, or Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens. I very much hope too that the book conveys the passion and call to action of David Wallace-Well’s The Uninhabitable Earth, coupled with the sober economic analysis of The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus or Capital in the 21st century by Thomas Piketty, and that it provides the technical rigour of Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air by David MacKay, the rationality of Hans Rosling’s Factfulness, and the eternal hope of The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. I believe net-zero will be cheaper, cleaner, safer, more reliable, more sustainable, and will create more employment than if we remain bound to fossil fuels. After reading the book, I hope you will agree. Mathew Hampshire-Waugh, Author.