New Books in World Affairs Nicholas Beuret, "Or Something Worse: Why We Need to Disrupt the Climate Transition" (Verso, 2025)
Mar 6, 2026
Nicholas Beuret, lecturer and activist studying the political economy of the green transition. He profiles the transition economy as a site of class conflict. He describes everyday squeezes from green policy, the rise of precarious green jobs and securitization. He argues for disruptive tactics, local organizing, and community-led refusals as pathways to a fairer transition.
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Transition Economy Is State-Led De-Risking For Green Profit
- The transition economy is a state-led reconfiguration that de-risks private investment to restart growth under the banner of climate action.
- It combines guaranteed revenue instruments, regulatory rollback versus local objections, and new markets like heat pumps and EVs to secure corporate profits.
The Climate Squeeze Links Cost Of Living To Climate Harms
- The squeeze frames climate impacts as everyday cost pressures that make people poorer and reduce public services, connecting cost-of-living directly to climate disruption.
- Examples include rising energy bills, higher repair costs from potholes, strained local budgets, and the spread of side hustles.
Hope Is Material And Shrinks Under The Squeeze
- Hope is a material resource that contracts under austerity and climate precarity, shrinking people's capacity to imagine alternatives.
- When time, money, and emotional bandwidth vanish, the material grounds for collective political hope disappear too.
