What if climate politics is about power, not carbon?

Alasdair speaks with Jessica F. Green, author of the new book Existential Politics: Why Global Climate Institutions Are Failing and How to Fix Them , about why thirty years of climate policy have failed to reduce emissions. They discuss why carbon pricing has been largely ineffective, how net zero pledges are misleading, and why focus must shift from measuring emissions by the tonne to measuring profitability. Jessica is a professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, and an expert in carbon pricing and global governance. Her new book addresses the climate crisis through asset revaluation and is available to preorder from Princeton University Press here. Further reading: The Decarbonization Bargain: How the Decarbonizable Sector Shapes Climate Politics, Nils Kupzok and Jonas Nahm, Cambridge University Press, 2024 The False Promise of Carbon Offsets , Jessica F. Green, Foreign Affairs, 2023 Collaborative Advantage: Forging Green Industries in the New Global Economy, Jonas Nahm, Oxford University Press, 2021 Follow the Money, Jessica F. Green, Foreign Affairs, 2021 Does carbon pricing reduce emissions? A review of ex-post analyses , Jessica F. Green, Environmental Research Letters, 2021 Making Climate Policy Work , Danny Cullenward and David G. Victor, Wiley, 2020 Send us Fan Mail Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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What if climate politics is about power, not carbon? is an episode from The Economy, Land & Climate Podcast by Land and Climate Review .

This episode is 41:50 long.

This episode was published on Sep 12, 2025.

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