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It is often feared that the transition towards environmental sustainability will depress living standards and reduce quality of life. But research shows that reducing income differences between rich and poor within each of the developed countries will remove important obstacles to sustainability and improve the real quality of life. The evidence suggests that the complementarity between greater equality and sustainability may be served best by policies to advance economic democracy.

Though far from universally accepted, the evidence for the consequences of high carbon emissions is scientifically incontrovertible. In May 2013 rising carbon concentrations in the atmosphere surpassed 400 ppm–40 per cent higher than before industrialization, and higher than humans have ever breathed before. In 2007 Hansen (head of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies) estimated that if we are to keep the rise in global temperatures to no more than 2 C, atmospheric concentrations of carbon will have to be reduced to 350 ppm.