09.02.2016 - Beyond Paris: Avoiding the trap of carbon metrics
Instead of changing our economic system to make it fit within the natural limits of the planet, we are redefining nature so that it fits within the economic system. Until recently terms like “carbon accounting,” “carbon footprint,” and “carbon offsetting” would have raised some quizzical eyebrows among the general public. Today, such carbon-based metrics are everywhere, but are they helpful or unhelpful in motivating the necessary action on climate change? Although the case for metrics may seem incontrovertible, what is measured is always a political choice, and such choices favor certain interests and approaches over others. In that sense the trajectory of global environmental policy over the last 30 years is a history of forgotten alternatives...............................................Full Article: Source
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