The perfect introduction to the new green economy: an original, highly accessible tour through a single day from the BBC’s Chief Economics Correspondent

Environomics

How the Green Economy is Transforming Your World

By Dharshini David

Elliott & Thompson / HB / 20 June 2024 / £22

Why might an orangutan care which toothpaste you choose? What does your mobile phone have to do with wind turbines? And can your morning coffee really power a bus?

Economics affects every aspect of our lives, from the clothes on our backs to the bread on our tables and the fuel in our cars. And there are huge changes afoot as the global green revolution sweeps across the globe.

In this vibrant and eye-opening book, economist and broadcaster Dharshini David follows the course of an average day – from the moment we flick on the light in the morning – to reveal the green changes that are already taking place in every aspect of our world. Exploring industries such as energy, food, fashion, technology, manufacturing and finance, she asks what is happening, how quickly, who is driving it all – and what it means for us. Ranging from crucial issues such as sustainability and corporate greenwashing, to global flashpoints such as industrialisation and trade wars, she shows how even the smallest details in our day are part of a much bigger story about where our world is heading.
If you’ve ever wondered what green issues really mean for your day-to-day life, this book is for you.

Dharshini David is the Chief Economics Correspondent for BBC News and Presenter of programmes for Radio 4, including the Business News on the Today Programme. She won the Harold Wincott prize for Audio Journalism in 2023 for her Analysis documentary for Radio 4.

She has worked as an economist for the UK government, on the trading floor for HSBC Investment Bank, advised the Tesco Board about broadcasting and covered the credit crunch from Wall Street. Dharshini is the author of the bestselling book The Almighty Dollar and read Economics at Downing College, Cambridge.

Praise for The Almighty Dollar

‘Original and engaging’ – Joel Hills, ITV News

‘Brilliantly revealing’ – Ian King, Sky News, and Times columnist

‘Readable and illuminating’ – The Bookseller

‘A brilliant book … very, very readable’ – Iain Dale, LBC

Stats and facts…

  • Fossil fuels – coal, oil, gas – account for about 80 per cent of the world’s energy use.

  • Households are responsible for over a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Fashion is now the second biggest industrial polluter on the planet - its responsible for up to a tenth of greenhouse gas emissions – more than aviation and shipping combined.

  • Textile production as a whole is estimated to be responsible for about 20 per cent of global clean water pollution. 

  • Despite being the world leader in developing and installing renewables like wind and solar, China burns more coal than the rest of the world put together. 

  • At the height of its building boom, around a third of China’s economic growth came from its property sector. According to think-tank Chatham House, China devoured more cement in the three years between 2010 and 2013 than the US did in the entire twentieth century.

  • Cement currently accounts for 7 per cent of global CO2 emissions and about a quarter of all industry CO2 emissions. 

  • 11 billion tonnes of cargo crosses the seas per year. That’s about 1.5 tonnes per person on average.

  • Multinationals such as Amazon, Ikea and Unilever are among those who’ve signed pledges to only move goods on ships with zero carbon fuel by 2040.

  • In 2002, there were 800 million cars on the road – that is set to reach 2 billion by 2030.

  • Estimates vary but the manufacture of batteries (for electric vehicles) can account for over 7 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – or over half the total involved in those vehicles’ production.

  • Typically, however, it only takes a year or two of driving for an electric vehicle to close the emissions gap with its traditional rival.

  • Research shows that switching to a ‘green pension’ can be over twenty times as effective at reducing your carbon footprint as giving up flying, going veggie and switching energy providers.

  • Charity Rainforest Rescue claims that the equivalent of 300 football fields of forest are cleared and burnt every hour in Indonesia, to make way for palm oil trees. These are some of the world’s most biodiverse lands that are being destroyed; habitats for already endangered species, such as orangutans and Sumatran elephants. 

  • Meat and dairy production accounts for 14.5 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases.

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EMMA FINNIGAN PR

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