Decarbonizing research laboratories? The tensions associated with the commensurability of carbon and how it opens up the boundaries of responsibility attribution

Antoine Hardy ()
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Antoine Hardy: Centre Emile-Durkheim

Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, 2024, vol. 105, issue 1, No 8, 179-198

Abstract: Abstract This article addresses the decarbonization of the French public research sector via a novel form of scientific mobilization: Labos 1point5, a group of research personnel, whose strategy is partly based on developing and then distributing a carbon calculator to estimate the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted by French public research laboratories, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) or “carbon footprint.” Here, I question the effects of this quantification on laboratories’ approach to decarbonization. Commensuration of research practices through an estimation that is not centered on a specific practice (such as travel) or limited to certain instruments (e.g., telescopes, supercomputers, computer hardware) opens up the boundaries of responsibility attribution. I identify three forms of tensions that arise during this process: a tension in terms of level of responsibilities, a material and disciplinary tension, and finally, a definitional tension, in the sense of “boundary-work” (Gieryn, 1983), in which this initiative is simultaneously labeled as scientific and activist.

Keywords: Carbon footprint; Quantification; Science; Decarbonization; Labos 1point5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s41130-024-00211-2

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