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Clash of the eco-sciences: carbon marketization, environmental NGOs and performativity as politics

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 40; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03085147.2011.574422

1469-5766

Anders Blok,

French Urban and Social Studies

Abstract Abstract The performativity of economics programme, pioneered by actor-network theorist Michel Callon, has emerged as an important theoretical intervention at the intersections of science studies, economic sociology and the anthropology of valuation. Exploring the case of contested carbon market designs in global climate governance, however, this article argues that performativity analysts have so far failed to pay sufficient attention to the political dimensions of marketization. Adopting insights from recent materialist approaches to the politics of techno-science, the article addresses this imbalance by outlining three modalities of techno-economic citizenship, as these interfere with the shaping of specific carbon market designs. Drawing on web-based research tools and document analysis, each modality is illustrated via transnational environmental NGO practices of contestation, particularly in the global South. The performativity programme, it is concluded, stands to gain from conceptualizing politics as dynamic assemblages of collective actors, sites of contestation and technologies of witnessing. Re-framing performativity in this direction allows for a reintegration of economics into a wider political ecology of contested eco-sciences. Keywords: performativity of economicsmaterialist politics of techno-sciencecarbon marketstransnational environmental NGOsclimate justice Notes 1. 'De-economization' is the term suggested by Bruno Latour (2004), in talking about the limits of economization as a model for constructing the good common world. See also the opening quote of this paragraph. 2. The workshop on 'Performativity as politics', held in Toulouse, 23–5 October 2008, testifies to the reality of this perception among science studies scholars and economic sociologists. 3. This version of the market failure comment was made during a press conference, following the release of the UK government-sponsored Stern Review (2006). 4. MacKenzie's relative failure in this context to elaborate a more productive concept of the politics of carbon markets is all the more surprising, given that he does pay careful attention to the (sub-)political ramifications of specific market devices, such as the National Allocation Plan (NAP) formula. However, at the strictly conceptual level, he arguably still separates this practical and material 'sub-politics' off from some notion of the 'Realpolitik' of overall attitudes to be taken towards carbon markets. I thank an anonymous reviewer for inviting me to clarify this point. 5. This is hardly a coincidence: besides working as analyst, Lohmann is also a prolific activist with the UK-based Corner House, one of the most critical voices in debates on carbon markets and climate justice. I return to the analysis of these voices in the next section of this article. 6. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, serving as the hub of UN-sponsored climate science. 7. I leave aside here the thorny question as to whether or not economics as such can rightfully be called a 'science'; from a performativity perspective, the more important issue is the relative cognitive authority ascribed to forms of economic expertise across various public and political contexts. 8. This network software was developed by the Govcom.org foundation in Amsterdam, and is available from the webpage: http://www.issuecrawler.net. Richard Rogers and Noortje Marres kindly assisted me in performing the carbon market NGO search; I refer to their co-written articles (Rogers & Marres, 2000; Marres & Rogers, 2008) for an in-depth description of the software tool. Because my web crawl was explorative in character, it did not yield 'strong' network results, in the shape of maps calling for analysis and interpretation. I use it here instead mainly to pinpoint actors for further analysis. 9. I visited the CSE in New Delhi on 11 February 2008 to interview Chandra Bhushan, the CSE associate director. This visit was part of my participation, as observer, in the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, an annual large-scale political and scientific event focusing on sustainable development in the global South. 10. Anecdotally, on the webpage of Greenpeace UK, one reads in relation to the Stern review a confession to the effect that 'I never thought I'd feel particularly warmly towards an economist'. Retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/tags/nicolas-stern. 11. For suggestive evidence from the UK, Stern's country of origin, see the WWF UK position paper on the Stern review. Retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/cc_sternreview.pdf. 12. 'The cap and trade success story', EDF. Retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1085. Cap-and-trade carbon market systems are currently under debate in the Obama administration and the US Senate, with their future still uncertain. 13. 'Indonesia: Can carbon markets save orangutans?', The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.nature.org/wherewework/asiapacific/indonesia/features/art23436.html. 14. 'Forests for climate', Greenpeace International. Retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/forestsforclimate2008.pdf. 15. 'NGO supporters', The Gold Standard. Retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org. 16. The fact that buying and destroying credits on the EU ETS carbon market has emerged as a widespread 'privatized' form of individual eco-political engagement is a further illustration of this re-politicizing effect. 17. 'Durban group for climate justice', Carbon Trade Watch, retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.carbontradewatch.org/durban. 18. 'Filling a critical vacuum', Carbon Trade Watch, retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.carbontradewatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26. 19. It should be noted that MacKenzie (2007) uses the word 'counter-performativity' with a different meaning than I do here, in talking about cases where the use of economic models undermines their own empirical accuracy. In the case of carbon markets, it is difficult to tell what 'empirical accuracy' would mean, given the highly contested character of all the market-building tools. This is why I prefer a more politicized use of the term in this context. 20. 'Climate change? Social change!', Carbon Trade Watch, retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.carbontradewatch.org/durban/whoarewe.html. 21. This documentary is aptly entitled The Carbon Connection, retrieved 7 January 2010 from http://www.carbontradewatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=46. 22. Anecdotal evidence gleaned from media coverage in some European countries suggests that NGO criticisms of the CDM market are indeed currently flowing into wider public spheres. In the UK, for instance, The Financial Times and The Guardian newspapers have been running a string of critical articles on the CDM since 2007. 23. Based on an interview with Chandra Bhushan, CSE, New Delhi, 11 February 2008. 24. CSE director, Sunita Narain, elaborates these points in an interview posted on a website dedicated to Indian NGOs, retrieved 8 January 2010 from http://www.indianngos.com/environment/audio/sunita_narain.asp. 25. Based on interview with Chandra Bhushan, CSE, New Delhi, 11 February 2008. 26. 'Equity primer', CSE, retrieved 8 January 2010 from http://www.cseindia.org/campaign/ew/art20001122_4.htm. 27. Quote from interview with Chandra Bhushan, CSE, New Delhi, 11 February 2008. 28. 'Equity primer', CSE, retrieved 8 January 2010 from http://www.cseindia.org/campaign/ew/art20001122_4.htm.