“It’s now cheaper to save the world than destroy it.”

That’s the first line of Akshat Rathi’s new book Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of Our Age. It’s one of the best opening lines I’ve read in years.

Akshat Rathi is a senior climate writer for Bloomberg News. He earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Technology in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai. 

Climate Capitalism:
Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and
Solving the Crisis of Our Age
By Akshat Rathi
Greystone Books, Vancouver, 2024

In Climate Capitalism, Rathi presents ten case studies showing how the world is making progress on tackling climate change. Most of the chapters pivot around new technologies like solar and wind power, batteries, electric vehicles and carbon capture. He tells us about the history of each one and explains how they work without going into too much technical detail. Somehow, I wasn’t aware that rechargeable lithium-ion batteries were invented by a researcher at Exxon. I certainly didn’t know that carbon capture was first developed by the oil industry in Norway to improve oil field yields by injecting CO₂ into oil-bearing rock. Rathi also looks at the role of venture capital, international institutions, laws and policies, all of which, he argues, are essential elements in solving climate change.

But the real focus of the book is the people behind these developments. Rathi profiles key leaders in the climate fight, from scientists and technologists to venture capitalists like Bill Gates, bureaucrats like Wan Gang, China’s Minister of Science and Technology from 2007 – 2018, and business leaders such as Unilever’s former CEO Paul Polman.

Rathi fits these case studies into a familiar three-legged framework: tackling climate change requires technology, policy, and people. We need new, clean technologies to transition to. We need government policies – legislation, regulation and spending – to provide both carrots and sticks to bring about systemic change. And we need people to act. Most of the time when authors talk about people acting, they’re talking about us, the public, and how we spend our money, our time and our votes. In Climate Capitalism, Rathi focuses on people in positions of leadership and influence who can drive change across whole organizations and sometimes entire industries and countries.

Rathi is an unapologetic advocate for capitalism, but it’s a reformed capitalism, one that serves the needs of society and the planet, a capitalism shaped by appropriate laws, policies and public spending. He’s skeptical (as am I) about our chances of creating some brand new economic system to replace it.

“Crucially, capitalism, from the United States to China, is now deeply entrenched. There’s not one ‘utopian’ country in the world where it has been successfully replaced by an economic system that solves climate change. Even if you think the best option is to overthrow capitalism, there doesn’t seem to be any way that a new system could be put in place within the few decades left to avert catastrophic climate change.” [p. 180]

Judging by the massive amounts of investment capital already flowing into climate technology, Rathi says that capitalists have woken up to both the dangers of climate change and the opportunities in addressing it.

All this leads back to that opening line.

“Regardless of the arbitrary warming thresholds set by the Paris Agreement, the science is clear that avoiding every bit of warming is beneficial. It will also be cheaper to achieve climate goals – tens of trillions of dollars cheaper – than to deal with the costs that come from the damages caused by missing them.” [p. 12]

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I’ve noticed a change recently in the tone of books and articles about climate change. They’re starting to become more optimistic. No one is saying the dangers aren’t real or that we’ve done anywhere near enough, but there seems to be a welcome trend away from climate doom towards recognizing that we’re making progress at least on the technology side. We may even have averted some of the most dire scenarios that were predicted only a few years ago.

OK, calling it a trend might be exaggerating because it’s based only on my reading – a sample size of one. I guess it’s equally likely that I’m just exhausted from all the climate doom and I’m deliberately choosing to read more optimistic stuff.

Either way, Climate Capitalism fits into this “trend.” In fact, Rathi is optimistic about more than just technology. He suggests that pressure from consumers, voters, shareholder activists and enlightened corporate leaders is starting to have an impact on capitalism itself.

“It’s no longer climate against capitalism; it’s clear that increasingly the champions of capitalism want climate to be a problem that capitalism can solve rather than worsen.” [p. 202]

In this sense, Climate Capitalism is a great companion to Hannah Ritchie’s Not the End of the World. Where Ritchie dives deep into the data about our progress on climate change, biodiversity loss and other environmental problems, Rathi profiles the people who are making progress happen.

I don’t usually pay much attention to the blurbs on book covers, but this one from New York Times columnist David Wallace-Wells caught my eye:

“There is a cost to addressing climate change, but it will make us richer, happier, healthier, safer and more equal. Do we take that bargain?”

Akshat Rathi makes the case in Climate Capitalism that our answer should be a resounding yes.

Thanks for reading.

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