The Expert Epistemology of Climate Finance: Re-Visiting the Depoliticisation Critique

Abstract

The response to climate change is orchestrated by international organisations, reflecting the global challenge and collaborative response. There is an established critique that this process is depoliticised—where institutions, policies, and practices foreclose contestation. This paper explores the downstream effects of this, where global knowledge practices intersect with national climate change planning. I nuance the concept of depoliticisation, drawing on the South African experience with the Green Climate Fund. I argue that there is an urgency framing, underlaid by scientific and financial rationales, which is willingly enacted by domestic actors. This limits the scope and participation in climate finance, empowering unevenly, rather than voiding politics. These effects are demonstrated by bringing together the depoliticisation literature with civic epistemology, to clarify how the epistemic geography of climate change in South Africa formulates, contests, and deploys knowledge. Re-politicisation is evident within the limits of urgency which is missed in depoliticisation literature.