The Edge: How competition for resources is pushing the world, and its climate, to the brink – and what we can do about it.

About the Book

We Are At the Edge, Not the End, of History

Why did Russia invade Ukraine? Why have energy costs and inflation been so high? Why is there is there a cost-of-living crisis? Why does the climate crisis keep getting worse? What causes conflict, socio-economic crises, and climate change and what can you do about it, for your family, your business, and your country?

Global events, however long their origins, too often seem out of our control and suddenly to transform the world around us. If we want stability, we need to understand the causes, the scale of the challenges, and how we can deliver big enough solutions in time.

So many crises are caused by the same problem: competition for coveted resources. The amount of these same resources that we waste is shocking and the impact devastating. Which is why every society, organisation, business, household, and individual must put efficiency first - not just to save money and carbon and improve resilience, but to mitigate and avoid both conflict and climate change.

'The Edge' is a very contemporary look at how the world has been transformed by recent events, focusing on climate change, the war in Ukraine, the next resource flashpoints, and the challenges the world faces around energy, security, the environment and the economy.

Written from an investor's perspective from inside the energy industry, it will help businesses and economies apparently at the mercy of the markets to transition towards sustainability, productivity and prosperity, and help everyone understand the world in 2023. In the face of crisis and opportunity, we are at a turning point in history.

About the Author :
Jonathan Maxwell is the Founder and CEO of Sustainable Development Capital, LLP ('SDCL'), an award-winning independent investment firm with over US$2 billion of investment capital focussed on efficient and decentralised generation of energy ('EDGE'). SDCL is investment manager of the SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust plc, the first investment company of its kind to focus on energy efficiency projects and a constituent of the FTSE 250 index. Jonathan has over 27 years' experience in business and finance with 15 years at the helm of one of the UK's only independent sustainability and climate-focussed investment firms, and is a frequent commentator in the media on energy markets, the environment and climate change.

Review :
The statistics in Maxwell's book are stunning. Energy, like food and water, is in increasingly short supply. But for all of these, we waste most of what we are fighting over. The Edge is the only book you need to make sense of the global energy crisis. A very important contribution. One of the huge comparative advantages of this book is the seriousness and knowledge about energy and efficiency. It explains how critical resource efficiency, relating to energy, but also to other scarce resources such as food, water, minerals, and time will be to managing the enormous geopolitical, economic, and environmental challenges in front of all of us today. The Edge is an eloquent roller coaster ride through the unfolding of the modern climate crisis, well informed, up to date and well articulated, a project that keeps one eye on global energy and resource use growth, and one on energy and resource wastage ... an important and urgent book ... For years we have been told that the most valuable unit of energy is the unit we don't use. But turning that observation into real flows of finance has proven elusive. Jonathan has a clear vision for how to change that - and more than just a vision, he's got the receipts: he's done it, at scale on five continents. Superb 'The Edge' is a very contemporary look at how the world has been transformed by recent events, focusing on climate change, the war in Ukraine, the next resource flashpoints, and the challenges the world faces around energy, security, the environment and the economy.