In 1991 Time magazine ran a cover story on climate change, highlighting the need for urgent political action on this global issue. Over the intervening fifteen years very little meaningful progress has taken place at an international level. While some may applaud the Kyoto Protocol coming into force in 2005, for many observers its commitments are little more than political puffery. Not only is the Protocol weakened by the absence of the USA and Australia and the complete absence of obligations on developing country emitters such as China, India and South Africa, but the very nature of its target – an average reduction in emissions of 5% below 1990 levels by 2012 – is seen to be grossly inadequate.

In his latest thoroughly researched book, Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning, Guardian columnist and bestselling author George Monbiot provides a compelling case that rich countries need to reduce their current per capita carbon emissions by 90% by 2030. This, he argues, is necessary if we are to prevent global average temperatures rising by more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels, seen by many scientists as a critical threshold or “tipping point” after which warming will increase at a significantly more rapid rate.