Christian De Perthuis is a professor of economics at Paris-Dauphine University, where he founded the Climate Economics Chair. He headed a committee on environmental taxation which resulted in the adoption of a carbon tax in French fiscal directives. He is the author of numerous works, including Le Capital vert (Editions Odile Jacob, 2013)
Raphaël Trotignon is an environmental engineer and an economist, with a PhD in economics from Paris-Dauphine University. He is the co-author, with Boris Solier, of Comprendre les enjeux énergétiques (Pearson, 2010).

What outcome can be expected from the U.N. Climate Change Conference, scheduled to be held in Paris in December 2015?
In this book, Christian De Perthuis and Raphaël Trotignon, two of the top experts in climate economics, offer an inside picture of climate-change negotiations and of the major issues on the agenda. And they make it clear that a solid legal agreement — i.e. one that is equally binding for all parties — must be envisaged. They are critical of energy transitions that will simply result in more CO2 being released into the atmosphere; instead, they urge the implementation of a system of international tariffs as the way to achieve real change.
Disagreements between the West and developing nations concerning the former’s responsibility, scientific uncertainties which only encourage climate-change sceptics, the role played by economic and local interests, technological innovations: these are some of the issues that show that climate change cannot be dealt with in isolation, and must be included in society’s broader issues.

• Didactic and highly accessible, this book will enable citizens to make up their own minds about climate change and what must be done.
• A reasonably optimistic work, showing that by acting soon in a coordinated manner we can effect immediate changes. There’s no need to wait till 2050!