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The fabrication of environmental intangibles as a questionable response to environmental problems

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  • Eve Chiapello
  • Anita Engels

Abstract

This article proposes a general framework within which to analyze the new environmental intangibles that have been proliferating over the last decades in order to address environmental problems on a market basis. We pay attention to different possible states of environmental intangibles according to the degree of commodification of the impact they are based on. The impact is measured, then commodified and sometimes traded in a secondary market. Each state requires complex socio-technical arrangements. We also differentiate between positive impact, avoided negative impact and negative impact commodities, since each of them appears to relate to the environment problem quite differently. The literature and the articles of this special issue provide numerous case studies. They suggest that the commodification of environmental impacts via the creation of intangibles often fails to deliver the promised environmental improvements. We throw light on one of their aspects: the detachment from the physicality of the impacts, a detachment that is needed to commodify them. This detachment takes different guises. It seems that the greatest flexibility for economic actors comes with a greater detachment, and that this weakens its environmental effectiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Eve Chiapello & Anita Engels, 2021. "The fabrication of environmental intangibles as a questionable response to environmental problems," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 517-532, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jculte:v:14:y:2021:i:5:p:517-532
    DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2021.1927149
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    Cited by:

    1. Federica Viganò, 2023. "The Climate Financialization Trap: Claiming for Public Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-7, March.
    2. Barral, Stéphanie & Guillet, Fanny, 2023. "Preserving peri-urban land through biodiversity offsets: Between market transactions and planning regulations," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Golka, Philipp, 2024. "Assets and infrastructures," SocArXiv rbqm9, Center for Open Science.
    4. Antoine Hardy, 2024. "Decarbonizing research laboratories? The tensions associated with the commensurability of carbon and how it opens up the boundaries of responsibility attribution," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 105(1), pages 179-198, August.

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