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Decarbonizing capital: Investment, divestment and the qualification of carbon assets

Langley, P.; Bridge, G.; Bulkeley, H.; van Veelen, B.

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Authors

B. van Veelen



Abstract

rivate investment capital is now widely regarded as strategically significant to the governance of climate change. A dedicated and dynamic carbon finance sector has emerged that features techniques and practices for decarbonizing capital, facilitating investment in low-carbon projects and enterprises or enabling divestment from high-carbon firms and sectors. We bring together and develop the concepts of ‘qualification’ and ‘assetization’ to analyse how decarbonizing capital is proceeding. With specific reference to green bonds and the equities of fossil fuel corporations, we show how investment and divestment entail the qualification of things as assets with more-or-less specific carbon properties. But the qualification of assets as ‘low-’ or ‘high-carbon’ is also shown to be contingent, contested and compromised, featuring contrasting modalities of qualification that are decarbonizing capital in uncertain and incomplete ways.

Citation

Langley, P., Bridge, G., Bulkeley, H., & van Veelen, B. (2021). Decarbonizing capital: Investment, divestment and the qualification of carbon assets. Economy and Society, 50(3), 494-516. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2021.1860335

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date May 17, 2021
Publication Date 2021
Deposit Date Nov 27, 2020
Publicly Available Date Nov 17, 2022
Journal Economy and Society
Print ISSN 0308-5147
Electronic ISSN 1469-5766
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 50
Issue 3
Pages 494-516
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2021.1860335

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