Ground-breaking article on “Rethinking the geographies of finance for urban climate action”

CESET team member, Enora Robin, has published a new groundbreaking journal article in the Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers based on her research funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

In 'Rethinking the geographies of finance for urban climate action’ Enora argues that research on the geographies of finance for urban climate action has generated important insights into how climate agendas contribute to the financialization of urban environments and strengthen the position of market actors in urban governance. However, by focusing on a limited set of financial instruments (e.g. green bonds, carbon credits), actors (e.g. real estate developers, private investors, international organisations), and projects (e.g. large scale infrastructure), existing studies overlook the heterogeneity of financial relations, initiatives and actors that make possible urban climate action. This includes for instance the deployment of decentralised, small scale renewable energy technologies, or community-led adaptation efforts.

In this paper, Enora explores how theorisations of heterogenous/hybrid infrastructure, diverse economies and popular economies can advance current research, through the analysis of three decentralised renewable energy projects in France, the UK and Zimbabwe. These concepts can help to expand our understanding of the multiple financial relations that underpin urban climate interventions and to explore their implications for the agency of different actors, particularly of those who are most affected by climate change impacts.

To access the paper: https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/tran.12508

Image credit: "Climate Action Now!" by billb1961 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0