As COP29 kicks off in Baku, Azerbaijan, Tiffanie Chan, Policy Analyst the LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment recommends seven eye-opening books that reveal why integrity is essential for meaningful climate action.

In the lead-up to COP29, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released its annual report assessing the status of global climate action. Alarmingly, it finds that continuing with current policies would lead to 3.1°C of warming. This would have catastrophic impacts. How did we get here, despite years of international climate negotiations? Below are a few books to help answer this big question and explore some of the ways this lack of progress has been challenged.

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes. Bloomsbury. 2010.

In a meticulously researched book published in 2010, historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway document how a group of scientists and advisers, alongside key politicians and industry figures, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public on climate change. Today, there a number of lawsuits by subnational governments in the US against the “Carbon Majors” (the largest fossil fuel producers), arguing that these companies’ must be held responsible for paying the costs of adapting to climate change, given their historic involvement in major disinformation campaigns.

The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet. Michael E. Mann. Scribe. 2021

Following from Merchants of Doubt, this book by climate scientist Professor Michael E. Mann highlights, among other issues, the use of false “climate solutions” and greenwashing as delay tactics. In particular, Chapter Seven challenges narratives around a future of natural gas “bridge fuels” or “clean coal” and warns of the risks associated with geoengineering technologies. This book thoroughly exposes why those who publicly talk of climate action and progress, yet at the same time advocate against phasing out of fossil fuels, cannot be considered as acting with integrity.

The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism. Adrienne Buller. Manchester University Press. 2022.

This book raises critical questions about the structure of our current economies and societies, and what that means for addressing climate change. Borrowing the author Adrienne Buller’s words, the book has two purposes: first, to connect the ideas, policies and actors that shape the current response to climate change and show how they serve a specific group of interests, and second, to illustrate how these ideas are distracting from and decreasing opportunities for real progress towards a safe and just climate. For those curious about the rise of the ‘“voluntary carbon market” and the integrity risks embedded within it, this book is an excellent read.

Litigating Climate Change in the Global South. Jolene Lin and Jacqueline Peel. Oxford University Press. 2024.

The law and the courts are being used as key tools to advance climate change-related agendas and uphold integrity in climate action. At the Grantham Research Institute, we publish annual reports tracking climate litigation developments globally and in 2023, at least 230 new climate cases were filed, bringing the total to over 2,500 cases. This book focuses on litigation in Global South developing countries and shines a light on their distinctive contributions in addressing climate change; a problem largely created by emissions in the Global North. The cases analysed underline the importance of climate justice and pose critical questions of who should be held responsible under law for the adverse effects of the climate crisis. At COP29, the issue of climate finance provided by developed countries to developing countries so that they can meet the costs of decarbonisation and adaptation and address loss and damage will continue to be a highly contentious issue.

Expansion Rebellion: Using the Law to Fight a Runway and Save the Planet. Celeste Hicks. Manchester University Press. 2022.

In a case closer to home here in London, this book follows the legal challenge against the expansion of a third runway at Heathrow Airport. As author Celeste Hicks puts it, this case, regardless of the outcome in court, was a “highly symbolic victory” in the battle to hold politicians to account for making promises to decarbonise. The UK Climate Change Act commits the government by law to reach net zero (reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100 per cent from 1990 levels) by 2050. When Parliament voted to approve the Heathrow expansion, an 80 per cent reduction target was already agreed in law. This book highlights the misalignment between politicians committing to international and domestic climate targets, and their decision-making on policies. Although a third runway may still be on the horizon and tackling aviation emissions remains difficult, this book shows the power of litigation and social mobilisation.

The Climate Book. Greta Thunberg. Allen Lane. 2022.

Created by climate activist Greta Thunberg and taking Professor Ed Hawkins’ Warning Stripes (depicting global warming over two centuries in a striking bar graph) as its cover image, this book is Climate Change 101. It brings together papers from numerous experts across many disciplines to explain what climate change is, its impacts in the past, present and future, what we have (and have not) done so far to address it. After drawing this picture, it sets out, what we must do now to transition to low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient societies.

All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson (eds.). Penguin Random House. 2020.

This is an anthology of short essays and poems from inspiring women involved in the climate movement. Climate change disproportionately impacts marginalised communities due to existing social structures and cultural norms that uphold inequality. Women remain underrepresented, despite the crucial role female entrepreneurship can play in supporting just transitions. Only five of the 28 previous COP presidents have been women, and men continue to make up more that 60 per cent of delegates. The book is divided thematically into eight sections: root, advocate, reframe, reshape, persist, feel, nourish and rise. Each starts with a beautiful illustration that captures its meaning. A personal favourite in the anthology is the poem “Being Human” by Naima Penniman, which you can listen to here.

I end with this recommendation as it encapsulates a key point about integrity in climate action. To deliver credible solutions, we need to empower all actors and segments of society. Through mixing essays with poetry and art, the anthology explains the climate crisis and what we can do about it through lived experiences and personal voices. As the flamboyant COP29 international negotiations unfold, it is important to keep in mind those on the ground already experiencing the physical impacts of climate change. Equally crucial is for those participating at COP to foreground the local realities and priorities of those missing from the negotiations table.

Note: This reading list gives the views of the author and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Banner image credit: Antonello Marangi on Shutterstock.

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