What if decarbonisation became reality?

We are thrilled to introduce the Rough Planet Guide! Drawing on REINVENT’s work on the possibilities for radically reducing the carbon footprint of basic materials industries, this book is a tourist guide to Notterdam – an imagined coastal city in a decarbonised Europe circa 2045.

The Rough Planet Guide declines to answer the question of “how do we make the decarbonisation transition happen?”, in favour of the question “how might we live in a successfully decarbonised Europe?” Thinking through the polyphony of the latter sheds new light on the former, not least because it makes it clear that there is more than one pathway to a post-fossil Europe.

This book is not a prophecy or promise, but it is a possibility. This book is not optimistic, but it is hopeful. This book is a fiction… but it is built upon the best truths we could find during the four-year interdisciplinary work research work done by many people across Europe.

We invite you to visit Notterdam by downloading the Rough guide here or by clicking on the cover image.

Why make a fictional travel guide?

That’s a good question, and one we have received quite often. In the guide we have written a lengthy section on why and how we produced the book. This is where you will find all the endnotes – the cold hard science that backs up the speculative stories contained in the guide.

For any questions, requests, praise or criticism, please get in touch with our editor-in-chief Paul Raven at paul.raven@svet.lu.se.

Endorsements

“Truly a visionary way to present research results. As a reader, you are swept directly into the future… [the Guide] provides a basis for the need for continued efforts from industry, the state and research, and inspires action.”

– Eva Blixt, Jernkontoret (Swedish steel-producer’s association)

“As a long term investor I always seek to try out frontier technologies as early as possible... this book takes that concept to a range of interesting applications, whilst extending the perspective further than most forecasts, which makes it both interesting and useful.”

— Ludvig Nilsson, managing director, Jade Invest (Shanghai)

“Definitely rewarding, refreshing and fun... you’ve put together a lot of intriguing yet realistic examples of concrete changes in city life [and] tell the tale of how different movements and motives can create the decarbonized future we want.”

 — Carina Borgström Hansson, WWF Sweden