Too Hot to Handle The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change

Through a comparative analysis of international climate polices, this book examines how we can build impactful democratic solutions to climate change and proposes practical ways forward for successfully translating the climate crisis into politics and policy.

Scientists are clear that urgent action is needed on climate change, and world leaders agree. Yet climate issues barely trouble domestic politics. This book explores a central dilemma of the climate crisis: science demands urgency; politics turns the other cheek. Is it possible to hope for a democratic solution to climate change?

Based on interviews with leading politicians and activists, and the author’s twenty years on the frontline of climate politics, this book explores why climate is such a challenge for political systems, even when policy solutions exist. It argues that more democracy, not less, is needed to tackle the climate crisis, and suggests practical ways forward.