Neglecting the Marginalized: Corporate Valuation Discourses in Environmental Struggles

Abstract

The unequal distribution of environmental goods and pollution burdens is determined by valuation decisions dependent on the values present in the public sphere. Accordingly, corporations and movements of resistance adopt strategies to influence public value systems to prioritize their interests. However, pre-existing asymmetric relationships of power grant corporations a dominant position over the public sphere, eschewing environmental management towards instrumental and transactional modes of valuation. The hegemonic valuation of the environment is thus a product and source of power, and a key element for the reproduction of systems of oppression. This article will discuss the mechanisms used by extractive corporations to neglect alternative value systems, illustrated with examples from the oil giant TotalEnergies.