The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis

In this cautionary but optimistic book, Figueres and Rivett-Carnac--the architects of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement--tackle arguably the most urgent and consequential challenge humankind has ever faced: the world's changing climate and the fate of humanity.

In The Future We Choose, the authors outline two possible scenarios for the planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris targets for carbon dioxide emission reduction. In the other, they describe what it will take to create and live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head on, with determination and optimism.

How we all of us address the climate crisis in the next thirty years will determine not only the world we will live in but also the world we will bequeath to our children and theirs. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us, in no uncertain terms, what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster.

CHRISTIANA FIGUERES and TOM RIVETT-CARNAC are the cofounders of Global Optimism, an organization focused on bringing about environmental and social change. They have worked closely with key campaigners supporting efforts to ameliorate the consequences of climate change, among them Greta Thunberg, Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jane Goodall, David Attenborough, and Robert Redford.