Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Jeremy Leggett's "The Carbon War" is the story of how the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 came about, and how companies in the business of thermal fuel (coal, oil, gas) - Leggett calls them the "Carbon Club" - tried to derail the process of setting enforceable goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions. It is also the story of how self-interest, not surprisingly, overrides the general interest; how the United States, home to some of the largest oil and gas multinationals and the world's premier carbon dioxide emitting nation, sided with the Carbon Club; how Australia, the world's largest coal exporter, joined forces with the United States.

The Kyoto Protocol will come into force on 16 February 2005. It has been ratified by more than 55 of its signatory countries. The United States, led by George W. Bush, however, walked out on the agreement in March 2001.

The fact of global warming is hardly disputable. The five hottest years recorded since 1880 were 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2001, with 1998 having been the hottest. Whether the warming effect is man-made is still subject to discussion. But a full three quarters of scientists working in the field of climate change make the burning of fossil fuels responsible for the recorded increase in temperature.

The emission of carbon dioxide could be easily reduced if power could be economically generated by photovoltaic solar energy (PV). However, Adam Smith's invisible hand won't do the job in this particular case. It is a Catch-22 situation because PV will only be economically viable if the PV cells are mass-produced, but they are not mass-produced because people can't afford today's expensive PV products. This is a situation where government would have a proper role to fulfill - to jump-start a process that would help the common good where the mechanics of the market do not work. But unfortunately most governments do not care to do that.

Already in 1997, Leggett notes, "every country had its companies lost in skepticism about climate change. But in the USA the scale of the collective denial was unique." (264) Eight years later it is not much different. This denial comes at a cost, though. Not only the cost of becoming more and more isolated from global trends and losing the moral authority the USA enjoyed after Roosevelt and Truman established the country as a world power, but also an economic cost. State of the art ecological cars that really sell are not made by GM or Ford these days, but by Japan's Toyota. World-class oil companies with a comprehensive environmental policy are not ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco of the US, but BP and Shell of Europe.

Jeremy Leggett, by the way, founded his own company to promote and sell PV technology after he realized, with a certain bitterness, that his lobbying efforts to get emission limits agreed were not getting anywhere.

This is an excellent book which gives a very clear and readable outline of how global negotiations on climate change have been carried through over a decade and how they have been influenced behind the scenes by powerful lobby groups which had a vested interest in inaction. The author describes how a few of these groups later decided to shift away from their earlier position, a move which had a tremendous impact on the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, enabling it to move forward.
The book has something in it for everyone. Despite the very complex topic and the breadth of information it contains, which can cater as well for specialists as for the layman, it reads like a novel. Leggett has successfully managed in the unlikely task to cover in one book: the evolving scientific findings on climate change; international politics and historical events which had an impact on negotiations; the growing role of non-governmental organisations; weather events and other environmental impacts of climate change in the past decade, and, crucially, the business and industry perspective, with its changing moods. In the background, Leggett also provides the reader with some information on his personal life choices and beliefs, which emanate a certain degree of optimism. This crucially turns the book into a motivating, albeit realistic, read.
This book should be read not only by those who have an interest in climate change. Anyone currently working in the energy sector, for example, could benefit from knowing more about how the industry has influenced climate change negotiations. In addition, the decision by George W. Bush to walk out of the Kyoto Protocol after his election will seem hardly surprising after reading this book, which can also help to put into perspective the current debate in the US on energy and climate policy.

The author participated as an NGO spokesperson at many international meetings about CO2's contribution to climate change. His chronological treatment imposes order on the confusing, repeated climate prep meetings and negotiations of the 1990s. It was very helpful to read an unapologetic, informed account of these negotiations, replete with the hope & despair many felt about the participation of U.S. negotiators 1992-2000.

I bought it for my husband for his birthday, then proceeded to read it night after night until it was done. Leggett's first person accounts engaged and entertained me, and I admired his ability to switch between his memories of his own involvement and his descriptions of the state of science and policy at a given time. The sketches of the opposition always were worth reading, and I kept wondering whether he'd ever get really mean.

As a coda to reading the book, one could visit the website of OPEC to read their short policy statement on global climate change; see their FAQs number 20, an interesting read.