More than neutral? A techno-anthropological case study concerning carbon offsetting at Copenhagen Airport
Author
Voll, Corinna Nathalie
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-08-03
Pages
65
Abstract
This thesis explores how Copenhagen Airport integrates carbon offsetting into its 2019 climate strategy and how this approach intersects with environmental activists’ concerns. Based on an ethnographic case study using documents, interviews, and participant observation conducted in March–May 2020, the analysis combines actor-network theory and Boltanski & Thévenot’s orders of worth to examine the practical work and valuation devices that make offsetting possible. The study describes how framing, translation, and standardization (including the Airport Carbon Accreditation scheme, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and Gold Standard projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals) render emissions manageable and tradable, while growth remains an unquestioned premise. It shows how industrial, market, green, and civic registers are coordinated to stabilize moral reputation, yet attempts to quantify climate and “sustainable development” repeatedly spill over into concerns that cannot be neatly accounted for. By engaging with environmental activist networks, the thesis highlights divergent visions of how aviation should respond to climate change and argues for greater sensitivity to the multiple ways climate issues are made present, fitted to, or excluded from otherwise stable practices.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan Københavns Lufthavn indarbejder karbonkompensation i sin klimastrategi fra 2019, og hvordan denne tilgang møder klimaaktivisters bekymringer. Med udgangspunkt i et etnografisk casestudie baseret på dokumenter, interviews og deltagerobservation gennemført i marts–maj 2020 kombineres aktør-netværksteori med Boltanski & Thévenots værdiregistre for at belyse det praktiske arbejde og de værdisætningsredskaber, der gør kompensation mulig. Specialet beskriver, hvordan framing, oversættelse og standardisering (herunder Airport Carbon Accreditation, Greenhouse Gas Protocol og Gold Standard-projekter forbundet til FN’s verdensmål) gør udledninger håndterbare og omsættelige, mens vækst forbliver et uantastet grundvilkår. Det viser, hvordan industrielle, markedsmæssige, grønne og borgerlige registre koordineres for at stabilisere moralsk omdømme, men at forsøg på at kvantificere klima og “bæredygtig udvikling” igen og igen løber over i bekymringer, der ikke let kan indregnes. Ved at engagere sig med miljøaktivistiske netværk fremhæver specialet forskellige fremtidsvisioner for, hvordan luftfarten bør reagere på klimaforandringer, og argumenterer for øget følsomhed over for de mange måder, klimahensyn gøres nærværende, tilpasses eller udelades i ellers stabile praksisser.
[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]