Paper long abstract:

New markets and mechanisms for carbon trading are continuing to emerge, in spite - or because of - the failure of a comprehensive global climate treaty (a new 'Kyoto' protocol). These markets operate at regional, national, and local scales, increasingly outside OECD countries. This research focuses on Southeast Asia, which already has a large number of Clean Development Mechanism and voluntary market projects, but is also actively developing national and regional carbon emissions trading schemes, some linked to bilateral or multilateral aid programmes. The proliferation of these newly emerging 'in vivo carbon market experiments' raises a number of theoretical and empirical challenges.

This paper develops a conceptual framework to address some key questions related to the study of these new markets: how are these carbon markets linked to other markets at different scales and to other sectors, such as the energy sector? How can we assess the democratic value of these markets, in particular in a region with strong state-control? And ultimately, can these markets promote more equitable development in a region characterised by rapid growth, environmental degradation, and persistent poverty? To start answering these questions, this paper links STS approaches to insights from political ecology and global environmental governance literature. It specifically discusses three themes: the link between climate and energy governance, the challenges of multi-scale governance and democratic value, and the embeddedness of carbon markets in local institutional contexts. These issues are illustrated with examples from a desk-based study of carbon markets in Southeast Asia and fieldwork in Vietnam.