Chatto & Windus (2025)
ISBN 978-1784745745
Reviewed by Piers Warren
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This is one of those books you wish everyone would read, especially politicians, company executives and other decision makers. But what makes this book stand out is that it’s not based on opinion or wishful thinking but on data and facts and how clearly they are represented.
The author, Hannah Ritchie, is Senior Researcher in the programme for Global Development at Oxford University and has won multiple awards for her use of data in tackling weighty problems such as Covid-19. In this book she takes 50 questions that are often posed when people are thinking (often sceptically) about climate change and gives straightforward answers using the latest data. Each question has it’s own chapter which starts by posing the question, then gives a one sentence answer before fleshing it out with stats and graphs and discussion. This is so useful when you want a quick answer without having to read through all the reasoning first. Each chapter ends with a summary entitled What we need to do, which highlights the main points that need to be tackled – whether as individuals, companies, countries or globally.
The 50 questions are divided into the following 10 subject areas: The Big Questions; Fossil Fuels; Renewable Energy; Nuclear Power; Electric Cars; Minerals; Heating (and Cooling); Food; Cement, Steel and Other ‘Hard-to-Abate’ Industries; and Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering. The conclusion then gives us five tips to help us separate fact from fiction: What are the numbers? Is that a big number? Compared to what? How old is the Data? And How could things change in the future? Here the author explains how data is all well and good, but can be manipulated or misunderstood if not put into perspective, something she strives to do throughout the whole book with her clear figures and graphs.
Humans are resistant to change, even small ones, and, as an early adopter of personal changes to try and lower my carbon footprint, I am used to the many counter arguments or excuses that are thrown up. Many of these are based on hearsay, biased unscientific information, deliberate attempts to deceive, or simply made-up or incorrect data. If only I could remember all the stats in this book so that I could give clear irrefutable evidence when faced with these arguments!
Many of the questions tackled are those that might be seen as debatable or have fine-line answers, which leads to incorrect assumptions, but thanks to the data and graphs presented you are left in no doubt as to the correct answer. Here are a couple of examples that I have personally come across that are tackled in the book: Q25. Aren’t electric cars just as bad for the climate as petrol cars? (Answer: Manufacturing an electric car does produce more carbon than a petrol one, but it quickly pays off the debt once you start driving it.) Q41. Surely we don’t have enough land for everyone to go plant-based. (Answer: If the world went plant-based we’d need less cropland because we’d free up land currently used to produce animal feed.) The point of this book is that these answers are then backed up with carefully researched data from around the world and the graphs, some of which are staggering (such as the amount of land used for animal pasture), leave you clear about what the real position is.
I’ve read many books about climate change over the last 20 years but this is the clearest and most useful I have found when trying to decide my position on various arguments. It is helpful for individuals, wondering whether it’s worth getting an electric car, or a heat pump, or ditching meat, for example, and immensely useful for the people in power making decisions about future spending which will ultimately affect all life on Earth. Furthermore it is a hugely hopeful and positive book.