The Future We Choose

Book by Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac (2020)

Christiana Figueres is an international diplomat who has held positions including Director of International Cooperation Costa Rica, Director of Renewable Energy, and Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas. In 2010 she was appointed head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Figueres rebuilt the international negotiation process, moving away from the unsuccessful strategy of forced emissions cuts, to a process of iterative, bottom-up commitments country by country which are designed to ratchet collective ambitions towards a 1.5-2⁰C pathway. Her ground-breaking work led to the signing of the Paris accord at COP21 in 2015, a binding global agreement to limit emissions signed by over 190 countries. Paris represented a level of international cooperation not achieved since the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 1968. Tom Rivett-Carnac was North America CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project and became a senior political strategist for the Paris Agreement. Together they are the co-founders of Global Optimism, an organisation focused on creating environmental and social change.

In the book, the authors’ paint two visions of the future: The first is ‘The World We Are Creating’: with 3⁰C warming by 2100, failing crops, human suffering, and irreversible devastation of the natural world. The second ‘The World We Must Create’: where we re-imagine cities, re-design infrastructure, and re-tool agricultural supply chains, helping to limit temperature increases and create a healthy, prosperous planet for humans and nature.

The Future We Choose certainly lives up to the authors’ ethos. They make the case that three key mindsets can create a better future: Stubborn Optimism to create global agreement; Endless Abundance to show sustainable systems can provide all we need; and Radical Regeneration to reforest the Earth. The authors list ten key actions to make change happen, these include: Letting go of the old world, facing your grief, focussing on the big picture, defending the truth, identifying as a citizen not a consumer, stop thinking you need fossil fuels, reforesting the earth, using technology responsibly, building gender equality, and engaging in politics.

I loved the energy and the optimism of the book. The authors do a good job of painting dystopian and utopian visions of the future. Although in my opinion these two visions do represent the extremes of possible outcomes, not the consensus pathway as it appears today - just bear this in mind. I enjoyed the intersection of physical actions and the psychology of change but was left wanting more in terms of the detail.

The Future We Choose, is a high-level, easy-to-read introduction to Climate Change which will appeal to most readers and certainly provides a well grounded framework on possible solutions. The book is aimed at mobilising positive action rather than proof of theory, so those readers looking for rigorous analysis and detail may be disappointed. Overall, well worth a read, and hopefully you will come away with a more open mind and a can-do attitude!

*Cover design by Nick Stearn

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