Spatialities of Carbon Offsets: sub-Saharan Africa and the uneven distribution of carbon offset projects

1. Intro

While carbon offsetting has led to the creation of huge new market for capital investment and speculation with claims of GHG emissions reduction as well as sustainable development, Sub-Saharan Africa - the World’s least developed region – has received relatively very few benefits. Important differences (may) also exist in terms of the technologies used to produce carbon credits, the scale of the projects, and the sustainable development outcomes, both on a global scale and within Sub-Saharan Africa itself. This paper will first identify the most important differences in the global carbon credit market in terms of number, scale, type and effect of projects with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. This entails taking a multi-scalar and relational approach looking at the global, regional, state and community level and their connections (or lack thereof). The paper will focus largely on the project and production side and the factors that affect where and why projects are implemented – i.e. technologies, biophysical restraints and opportunities, issues of property rights and land tenure and Western, often unfamiliar or unrecognised notions of contracts. In doing so, it is hoped that this will help answer the question: Why are there so few carbon offsets projects in sub-Saharan Africa?

2. Approach/Theoretical framework

- This paper will largely focus on the production side of carbon offsetting

- It will draw on actor-network theory (ANT)

- It will also draw on Andrew Barry’s idea of technological zones

- It is posit that carbon offsetting is an example of neoliberal governmentality

- There will also be a focus on the importance of technologies in the production process

Carbon offsetting can be seen as a socio-technical form of carbon governance. It represents an arrangement of people and technical devices and practices formed with the aim of achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. The carbon offsetting market as a socio-technical arrangement exists as a network of various actors ranging from the human to non-human, material to immaterial. Through its formation various zones of carbon offsetting are created: zones of consumption, zones of production and zones of exclusion. In this paper, I will draw on perspectives from both political ecology and Science and Technology Studies (STS) - looking at these issues through the lens of actor-network theory and Andrew Barry’s concept of technological zones. Through this lens the uneven spatial distribution of carbon offset projects becomes an issue of exclusion (or lack of inclusion) of a set of actors (states, NGOs, communities, local people, and certain technologies) from the carbon market network.

Once an offset is produced it is financialised and becomes a commodity to be traded. In the process both the production and consumption of an offset become incorporated in ‘spaces of carbon flows’, during which differences in the materiality of carbon offset production are removed at the level of consumption (or at least that is the aim). However, this serves to mask the important differences in the technologies and techniques involved in the projects and the claimed effects they have.

It is important to focus on the actual material technologies used to produce the carbon offsets as differences in these technologies affect both the sustainable development effects of a project and the viability of a technology. For example, the CDM - as an example of neoliberal governmentality – requires that projects be measurable, calculable and verifiable. The technologies that do not meet these requirements will be excluded from the market. It is the demand for perfect information and the associated required technical practices that help determine which technologies are most viable and this demand is driven by the logic of the market. The voluntary market is not as strict as the CDM and thus a potentially wider range of technologies are included in the scheme.

3. Differences within the carbon offset market

Research methods:

Analysis of PDDs, carbon offset companies’ project portfolios and the CDM database; interviews with staff from carbon offset companies; review of relevant literature and secondary sources.

Identifying the differences between Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions, particularly in terms of differing prevalence of technologies may shed light on why Sub-Saharan Africa has to date largely missed out on carbon offset projects. Interviews with staff from carbon offset companies are also expected to shed light onto this question. A specific focus to the biophysical environment may also provide some explanation, as might paying attention to land tenure issues in Africa.

4. Discussion

Discuss findings of analysis in section 3 in the context of the theoretical framework detailed in section 2.

5. Conclusion

Problems/Queries:

Should I focus on both the CDM and voluntary markets or just pick one or the other (probably voluntary as I assume this would be easier to get data – PDDs, interviews, etc.)? After a quick first glance at the data available, it seems as if projects in Africa are a little more common among voluntary carbon offsetting companies.

As I’ve not conducted too many interviews before, I’m a little unsure as to what precisely it might entail… What kind of interviews should I do, i.e. structured, semi-structred interviews? And what kinds of questions should I ask? How long should they be (15-30 mins, longer)? Is it necessary for me to type up a transcript and attach as an appendix to the essay?

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