Conceptualizations of sustainability in carbon markets

This paper focuses on market responses to climate change, specifically a particular example of voluntary carbon market development, in sub-Saharan Africa, and seeks to identify the principles of sustainability that carbon markets draw upon. We explore how key discourses and their application in the context of the carbon market construct a vision of sustainability. We argue that the prevalence of neoliberal and technocratic ideas and values preferring weak ecological modernization, coupled with the contemporary climate regime, marginalize alternative perspectives on climate-constrained
development, thus weakening prospects of averting the dangerous impacts of a changing climate. The analysis is based on the evaluation of 78 projects in the voluntary market across supply chains in 23 countries in the region.