Browsing by Author "Segerstam, Ada"

This thesis explores the voluntary carbon market (VCM). The central research question for this work is: Should there be limits to the voluntary carbon market? as a marketplace for carbon emission offsets. Offsetting means investing money into a carbon-removal project and quantifying the monetary contribution in terms of the volume of carbon removed. The research topic links to a central contradiction in the mitigation of climate change: the capitalist economic system has been recognised as a root cause for climate change, yet the tools for mitigation do not challenge its structures. The theoretical framework for this thesis is heterodox political economy. It is a critique of orthodox political economy, which, in turn, stems from the tradition of neoclassical economics. The theoretical framework has implications for the methodological choices in this thesis. Heterodox political economy aims to distance itself from orthodox methods of economic research. The economy and society are ever-changing non-closed systems and analysing them accurately through quantitative methods and drawing generalisable conclusions is challenging. For the purposes of this work, a selection of heterodox thinkers in political economy is chosen, and their arguments on limits to the market are reviewed. Examples include the doughnut economics model by Kate Raworth. Additionally, the thesis introduces critiques by heterodox thinkers on commodification of nature and its effects to the relationship of humans and non-human nature. The results of the work highlight the differences between the heterodox and orthodox views of the appropriate limits to the market. The central norms of orthodox political economy, such as methodological individualism, the free market and the assumed value neutrality of the economic space shape the mainstream ideas about the limits to the VCM. Contrastingly, heterodox political economy offers alternative ways of understanding the possibilities for the construction of the economy and highlights the importance of recognising the purpose of the economy. The thesis concludes that seen from the heterodox perspective of political economy, market orthodoxy should be challenged and thus there should be limits set to the VCM to start shifting responsibility for climate mitigation from the individual to the structural level. These limits may take the form of stronger regulation from the part of the state or international authorities. However, at present, the strong embeddedness of the orthodox economic norms in the market leads to a situation, where imaging alternative economic solutions is challenging, and thus structural change remains difficult. Therefore, it is important to recognise and challenge these hegemonic norms trough research and practice in heterodox political economy.