How can we understand and engage with the political economy of a transition to a low carbon global economy? This project brings an innovative interdisciplinary approach to the pressing question of how to accelerate transitions towards a lower carbon economy. With commitments from governments and the private sector falling well short of what is required to avert dangerous climate change, the question of how to accelerate decarbonisation is urgent. By introducing neglected political and historical dimensions it provides a richer account of the necessary enabling conditions for the sorts of transformations in energy production and consumption (including shifts in institutions, finance, infrastructure, technology and behavioural change) now required to tackle climate change. It does so by combining empirical and theoretical work on technology and innovation studies, historical economics and (international) political economy to analyse when such transformations have occurred before and how far insights about them can shed light on our current predicament in relation the need to drastically and rapidly decarbonise the global economy.This will improve our understanding of the politics and prospects of delivering such an energy transformation on the scale now required to tackle climate change and enhance energy security. This both challenges the predominantly apolitical focus on theories of socio-technical transitions and will provide evidence of how to address the pressing need to disassemble the high carbon economy in order to realise the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change.