It is increasingly clear that climate change threatens the future of the planet. Immediate and radical action is required, yet the current pace of change seems unlikely to provide an effective response. This book seeks to understand the reasons for this lack of action and it considers whether our political and economic institutions are capable of managing the rapid scale of transformation that is required.

The idea for this book resulted from numerous discussions with my father, an academic who taught at the University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and as a professor at University of Sussex. He also has many years’ consulting experience with United Nations (UN) agencies. Over the last few years, we have become increasingly concerned that the current socio-economic model is unsustainable and this book brings together his experience as an academic, and my own perspective as a consultant specializing in strategic change.

This book is not a rant at big business or politicians – well, maybe in parts – nor is it a message of gloom and hopelessness. Instead, it seeks to understand the reasons why there has been such a lack of action when it is clear that the current trajectory is heading for disaster. As well as examining the causes of this apparent inertia, the book seeks to identify the drivers of change that could help us move towards a more sustainable socio-economic model.

The book also expresses frustration with intergovernmental organizations, governments and politicians. However, any criticisms need to be balanced with an acknowledgement that many governments and politicians do recognize the need to act and many of them, including the UK government, are starting to place the environment high on their political agenda.

The term vested interests is used rather frequently and it is probably worth clarifying that this is a shorthand for organizations and individuals that use their wealth, power and influence to protect activities that would be disrupted by requirements to operate more sustainably. In simple terms, profits would be reduced if organizations had to account for the environmental cost of their activities. However, this frequent reference to the apparently dark and sinister forces of vested interests is not a blanket condemnation of all corporate organizations.