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Beyond the ‘tyranny of metrics’? Indicator literacy in sustainable finance

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  • Ben Eyre
  • Oiara Bonilla
  • Marc Brightman
  • Stefan Voicu

Abstract

Sustainable finance ‘thought leaders’ call for metrics as the key to aligning investment with sustainability objectives and harnessing the market for ‘good’. In this article, we consider how measurement is used in sustainable finance through three case studies of financial instruments described as bonds (green, forest, and impact) and develop Sally Engle Merry's concept of ‘indicator literacy’ as a contribution to critical geographies of sustainable finance. Through ethnography, we explore how labelling financial products as sustainable (and therefore moral) increasingly relies on claims to achieve measurable outcomes and how attention to spatial and scalar dynamics illuminates what this leaves out.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Eyre & Oiara Bonilla & Marc Brightman & Stefan Voicu, 2024. "Beyond the ‘tyranny of metrics’? Indicator literacy in sustainable finance," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 115(5), pages 582-597, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:tvecsg:v:115:y:2024:i:5:p:582-597
    DOI: 10.1111/tesg.12625
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben Eyre, 2021. "Effective or expedient: Market devices and philanthropic techniques," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 234-246, June.
    2. Fabian Muniesa, 2017. "On the political vernaculars of value creation," Post-Print halshs-01633585, HAL.
    3. Adnan Zikri Jaafar & Marc Brightman, 2022. "From Structure to Purpose: Green and Social Narratives, and the Shifting Morality of Islamic Finance in Kuala Lumpur," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Sarah Bracking, 2012. "How do Investors Value Environmental Harm/Care? Private Equity Funds, Development Finance Institutions and the Partial Financialization of Nature-based Industries," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 271-293, January.
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