It pops up everywhere - in science about climate change, fiction about climate change, in the political debate - 'we' in general have caused this, 'we' all must share responsibility and 'we' all must do our part. As though climate change emerged from a society that was completely democratic and egalitarian and where everyone influenced outcomes to the same degree.

Ecologist Andreas Malm explores the coal-fired Industrial Revolution roots of both capitalism and climate change, and explains how current political solutions to emissions just serve to continue business as usual, and why confronting global climate change must begin with confronting the global economic system that fuels it.

Andreas is author of Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming from Verso Books.