2023 ADM+S Symposium Poster Competition
Sophie Hartley, RMIT University
Title: Speculative Carbon Cultures? Regenerative Finance and Climate Action
Research Question:
To what extent do the values and practices of ReFi activists intersect with blockchain technology to form, transform and disrupt dominant carbon cultures?
Goals:
•To determine the Regenerative Finance movement’s core aims, values and practices through interviews and analysis of key ReFi projects and organisations
•To evaluate the impact of the Regenerative Finance movement on global climate governance
•To develop a better understanding of how activists/citizens intervene in institutions increasingly influenced by datafied technologies
Background:
As we enter further into a phase of ecological crisis brought on by climate change, diverse groups are turning to new tools and technologies to support their visions for the future. One such group is the Regenerative Finance or “ReFi” movement, who use blockchain technology to support climate action. Members of these ReFi groups aim to redefine contemporary understandings of value, reconnecting economic value with ecological value. While many ReFi initiatives are focussed on improving carbon markets and broader socioeconomic structures, for the participants within these programs they are deeply personal. ReFi offers participants the opportunity to reimagine their relationships with energy and climate futures and support everyday participation in spaces that have typically been the remit of larger businesses and governments. Critics of ReFi, however, see that, instead of pointing towards new, more equitable and participatory futures, by prioritising market-based understandings of value, ReFi further locks ecological systems within capitalist structures of extraction.
This thesis draws on energy and carbon cultures literature to introduce the concept of “speculative carbon cultures”. Speculative carbon cultures hold a tension between two contradictory forms. On the one hand we have the speculative practice of imagining alternative carbon futures, creating change through new energy imaginaries. These speculative carbon cultures are open and may help to transform prevailing relationships to carbon and wider ecosystems. On the other hand, I reference the carbon cultures of market speculation, financialisation and datafication that have dominated climate governance to date. Drawing on a series of interviews with core members of Regenerative Finance projects globally, I argue that ReFi as a movement holds these two contradictory forms within itself, and ultimately the change-making potential of the movement may depend on which form persists.
Social Relevance and Impact:
Climate crises continue to worsen across the globe. Scientists predict that if the global mean surface temperature reaches 2.0°C higher than the pre-industrial period we will see catastrophic effects for both ecological and human systems (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2019). Despite this scientific consensus, and decades of attempted action, global climate governance has struggled to coordinate around this crisis, and carbon dioxide emissions have continued to rise (Stoddard et al., 2021). There have been multiple political, economic, environmental, technological, and cultural barriers to action. This research project uses the Regenerative Finance movement as a primary case study to understand how groups of citizens come together with emerging technologies to overcome these barriers. This is a vital contribution not only to academic scholarship, but to climate policy.
This research will benefit:
1.Citizen-activists who are attempting to intervene in institutions increasingly influenced by datafied technologies
2.ReFi participants who want to understand the strengths and obstacles of their movement
3.Climate policymakers who want to understand how emerging technologies might influence, support or problematise climate policy
4.Technology companies and developers (particularly blockchain developers) who want to understand the social and ecological impacts of their technology
Findings from the research have been shared publicly via a policy report commissioned by Intel’s Carbon Reduction and Green Software team: apo.org.au/node/321467
Further public research outputs are planned for 2023-24.
2023 ADM+S Symposium Poster Competition
Sophie Hartley, RMIT University
Title: Speculative Carbon Cultures? Regenerative Finance and Climate Action
Research Question:
To what extent do the values and practices of ReFi activists intersect with blockchain technology to form, transform and disrupt dominant carbon cultures?
Goals:
•To determine the Regenerative Finance movement’s core aims, values and practices through interviews and analysis of key ReFi projects and organisations
•To evaluate the impact of the Regenerative Finance movement on global climate governance
•To develop a better understanding of how activists/citizens intervene in institutions increasingly influenced by datafied technologies
Background:
As we enter further into a phase of ecological crisis brought on by climate change, diverse groups are turning to new tools and technologies to support their visions for the future. One such group is the Regenerative Finance or “ReFi” movement, who use blockchain technology to support climate action. Members of these ReFi groups aim to redefine contemporary understandings of value, reconnecting economic value with ecological value. While many ReFi initiatives are focussed on improving carbon markets and broader socioeconomic structures, for the participants within these programs they are deeply personal. ReFi offers participants the opportunity to reimagine their relationships with energy and climate futures and support everyday participation in spaces that have typically been the remit of larger businesses and governments. Critics of ReFi, however, see that, instead of pointing towards new, more equitable and participatory futures, by prioritising market-based understandings of value, ReFi further locks ecological systems within capitalist structures of extraction.
This thesis draws on energy and carbon cultures literature to introduce the concept of “speculative carbon cultures”. Speculative carbon cultures hold a tension between two contradictory forms. On the one hand we have the speculative practice of imagining alternative carbon futures, creating change through new energy imaginaries. These speculative carbon cultures are open and may help to transform prevailing relationships to carbon and wider ecosystems. On the other hand, I reference the carbon cultures of market speculation, financialisation and datafication that have dominated climate governance to date. Drawing on a series of interviews with core members of Regenerative Finance projects globally, I argue that ReFi as a movement holds these two contradictory forms within itself, and ultimately the change-making potential of the movement may depend on which form persists.
Social Relevance and Impact:
Climate crises continue to worsen across the globe. Scientists predict that if the global mean surface temperature reaches 2.0°C higher than the pre-industrial period we will see catastrophic effects for both ecological and human systems (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2019). Despite this scientific consensus, and decades of attempted action, global climate governance has struggled to coordinate around this crisis, and carbon dioxide emissions have continued to rise (Stoddard et al., 2021). There have been multiple political, economic, environmental, technological, and cultural barriers to action. This research project uses the Regenerative Finance movement as a primary case study to understand how groups of citizens come together with emerging technologies to overcome these barriers. This is a vital contribution not only to academic scholarship, but to climate policy.
This research will benefit:
1.Citizen-activists who are attempting to intervene in institutions increasingly influenced by datafied technologies
2.ReFi participants who want to understand the strengths and obstacles of their movement
3.Climate policymakers who want to understand how emerging technologies might influence, support or problematise climate policy
4.Technology companies and developers (particularly blockchain developers) who want to understand the social and ecological impacts of their technology
Findings from the research have been shared publicly via a policy report commissioned by Intel’s Carbon Reduction and Green Software team: apo.org.au/node/321467
Further public research outputs are planned for 2023-24.