Rethinking Climate Policy Book Launch

During the 2026 Exeter Climate Forum, held on the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus from 29 June, Jean-François Mercure and Hector Pollitt launched their new book, Rethinking Climate Policy: Innovation and the Economics of Resource Creation (Cambridge University Press). Fittingly unveiled at Exeter’s own gathering of researchers, policymakers and business leaders on the road to COP31, the book makes the case that climate policy has faltered because we’ve misread its economics by treating decarbonisation as a cost to be shared out rather than as a process that creates new industries, capacity and wealth. During the book launch, Jean-Francois set out the central reframing: climate change as a problem of resource creation, not resource allocation.

About the book

Policies designed to address climate change have been met with limited success. Multilateral treaties, agreements and frameworks linked to the UN and COP meetings have so far failed to limit the rise in average global temperature. Rethinking Climate Policy suggests that one of the most important reasons for this is that we are looking at the economics of climate change in the wrong way, arguing that we need to look at climate change as a problem of resource creation, not resource allocation. It identifies problems in current climate policymaking, breaking many taboos in standard economics, to offer a bold proposal for effective and achievable public policy to achieve a zero-carbon economy. Underpinned by both a sound economic and complex systems analysis, this book develops a groundbreaking metric of economic resilience to measure the capacity of economies to transform without breaking down and accordingly how to best design climate policies.

• Provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of a zero-carbon economic transformation, in plain language accessible to the general public interested in climate policy
• Proposes a realistic and effective policy design approach to achieve an equitable zero-carbon economy
• Generates new useful insights and metrics of economic resilience that help determine the reliability of climate policy strategies, and therefore, their likelihood of success

About the authors

 

Jean-François Mercure , University of Exeter

Jean-François Mercure is Professor of Climate Policy at the University of Exeter’s Business School, UK. He was Senior Climate Economist at the World Bank. He researches the economics of climate change and advises on policymaking. He has lectured at University of Cambridge, Radboud University and University of Exeter. He is an economist, innovation scholar and complexity scientist, and works on varied topics from energy systems to quantitative finance to geopolitics. He has authored over eighty peer-reviewed articles and the textbook Complexity Economics for Environmental Governance (2022).

Hector Pollitt , University of Cambridge

Hector Pollitt is Senior Climate Economist working at a major international organisation, and focusing on climate policy solutions in East and South East Asia. He was previously the head of modelling and Chief Economist at Cambridge Econometrics, a consultancy based in the UK. He has twenty years of experience working with macroeconomic models and providing policy advice on climate policy to national governments and international organisations. He has co-edited two books on sustainability policy in East Asia and has co-authored more than forty peer-reviewed journal articles.

Endorsements

‘This is a valuable contribution to a hugely important debate, articulating the need for governments and legislators to help manage risks to ensure all groups in society can share the returns in an equitable and fair zero-carbon transition.’

Rt Hon Baroness Hayman GBE, former Lord Speaker; Chair, Peers for the Planet

‘This book sets out an evidence-based approach for designing realistic climate policy strategies for countries that not only address climate change, but do so in a way that maintains resilient societies, avoids policy reversals, understands the constraints of different countries and promotes international cooperation. A roadmap for delivering the change required – ensuring clean growth can be scaled at the speed we need!’

Chris Skidmore, Chair, ‘Mission Zero – The Net Zero Review; Chair, Centre for Economic Transition Expertise, Grantham Research Institute

 

‘This book provides a rigorous and thought-provoking framework for addressing the pressing challenges of climate change at a time when the world stands at a critical crossroads. The volume advances a lucid, evidence-based pathway that supports even greater ambition in the pursuit of a more sustainable and secure planet. Its analysis offers valuable insights for researchers, policymakers and practitioners seeking innovative economic and policy approaches to drive transformative climate action.’

Youba Sokona, former IPCC Vice Chair