The Winning of the Carbon War

“A brilliant page turner, alternately daringly funny, coldly sobering, starkly terrifying – poetic, personal, beautiful and intensely urgent."  Josh Fox, Emmy-winning film director

“Great fun to read; kind, tough, and often very funny.” Lord Nicholas Stern, London School of Economics

“We can rely on Jeremy Leggett to provide an interesting and insightful perspective.” Richard Branson, Virgin Group

“A vital message that deserves as wide an audience as possible.” Mark Lewis, Barclays

“Entertaining, informative and almost impossible to put down.” Nicci Talbot, Huffington Post


Humanity is in a race, a kind of civil war.

On the light side, the believers in a sustainable future based on clean energy fight to save us from climate change. The dark side defends the continuing use of fossil fuels, often careless of the impact it has on the world.

Jeremy Leggett fought for the light side for a quarter of a century as it lost battle after battle. Then, in 2013, the tide began to turn. By 2015, it was clear the the war could be won.

Leggett’s front-line chronicle tells one person’s story of those turnaround years, culminating in dramatic scenes at the Paris climate summit, and what they can mean for the world.

In this updated edition, an extra chapter summarises the events of 2016 and 2017 as they appear from the vantage point of another climate summit in Paris on the second anniversary of the original.