Why the World Can't Easily Go Green: Loss-of-Competence Aversion and Global Energy Transition

The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges humanity faces. Yet despite decades of international agreements and technological progress, meaningful global decarbonization remains painfully slow. This book offers a new explanation for this persistent difficulty. Drawing on the Competence-based Theory of Evolution, it shows that the main obstacle is not primarily a lack of technology or political will, but a fundamental behavioral pattern shared by all living systems: loss-of-competence aversion. Individuals resist giving up familiar heating systems and cars. Companies hesitate to abandon profitable fossil-based business models. And governments shy away from measures that could endanger short-term economic stability or political support. Particularly challenging is the situation of countries whose economies are heavily dependent on the extraction and export of fossil fuels. They are effectively being asked to dismantle their entire existing economic model without a clear, equally viable alternative being offered. The result is a systematic resistance to rapid change that conventional climate policy has largely underestimated. The book analyzes why this resistance is so strong and what it means for the feasibility of current transition strategies.

Pagina's: 196, Paperback, Independently published