The fabrication of environmental intangibles as a questionable response to environmental problems

Abstract

This article proposes a general framework within which to analyze the new environmental intangibles that have been proliferating over the last decades in order to address environmental problems on a market basis. We pay attention to different possible states of environmental intangibles according to the degree of commodification of the impact they are based on. The impact is measured, then commodified and sometimes traded in a secondary market. Each state requires complex socio-technical arrangements. We also differentiate between positive impact, avoided negative impact and negative impact commodities, since each of them appears to relate to the environment problem quite differently. The literature and the articles of this special issue provide numerous case studies. They suggest that the commodification of environmental impacts via the creation of intangibles often fails to deliver the promised environmental improvements. We throw light on one of their aspects: the detachment from the physicality of the impacts, a detachment that is needed to commodify them. This detachment takes different guises. It seems that the greatest flexibility for economic actors comes with a greater detachment, and that this weakens its environmental effectiveness.