 The friction of the mundane: on the problematic marketization of the carbon stored by trees in the tropicsVéra Ehrenstein Journal of Cultural Economy, 2018, vol. 11, issue 5, 404-419 Abstract: Carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels is a major concern of our times. There is now a political agreement that these emissions must decrease. So far one way forward has been to design and maintain carbon markets. As part of this process, trees in the tropics have been enrolled in peculiar transactions: actions such as reforesting a land of degraded savannah or preserving a piece of forest can produce tradable emission credits to offset against CO2 emissions in distant locations. Based on a multi-sited investigation of carbon offsetting, including fieldwork in the Congo, the paper presents a journey across different marketization sites where the enrolment of forest carbon into market exchanges can be seen to be at stake. Several operations are foregrounded, from United Nations negotiations and the measurement of carbon stocks, to business venture and legal work. The paper proposes a focus on the mundane that attends to details and frictions. This provides a deflationary story of the marketization of forest carbon, a story of contingencies and unexpected ramifications. Date: 2018 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jculte:v:11:y:2018:i:5:p:404-419 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2018.1461675 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Cultural Economy is currently edited by Michael Pryke, Joe Deville, Tony Bennett, Liz McFall and Melinda Cooper More articles in Journal of Cultural Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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