Beyond the ‘tyranny of metrics’? Indicator literacy in sustainable finance

Abstract Sustainable finance ‘thought leaders’ call for metrics as the key to aligning investment with sustainability objectives and harnessing the market for ‘good’. In this article, we consider how measurement is used in sustainable finance through three case studies of financial instruments described as bonds (green, forest, and impact) and develop Sally Engle Merry's concept of ‘indicator literacy’ as a contribution to critical geographies of sustainable finance. Through ethnography, we explore how labelling financial products as sustainable (and therefore moral) increasingly relies on claims to achieve measurable outcomes and how attention to spatial and scalar dynamics illuminates what this leaves out.