The practice of carbon markets

Pragmatism has recently taken up the ‘practice turn’ in order to overcome the neglect of agency in poststructuralist accounts. To explore potential advantages if such an approach is used for an analysis of carbon markets, it is first asked whether a practice approach could allow us to go beyond the dichotomy of agents vs. structures and thus lead to an understanding of carbon assets as a specific configuration of power and authority. Second, might it be possible to gain a complex understanding of knowledge that is embedded in commensuration, commodification, and trading, which all can be described as daily routines that reify a specific approach towards the climate. Finally, might a focus on practice also tell us something about the accountability of academics as ‘practitioners’. Examples from carbon market creation, performance and change are used to illustrate the potential of a practice approach in more detail.