Abstract
Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to address the climate crisis, and much of this is focused on attracting private sources of capital to fund ‘bankable’ projects in climate-vulnerable cities throughout the world. Enacted amidst a 21st century landscape of interlocking financial, epidemiological, and ecological crises, this call features an urgent narrative of ‘resilience-amidst-crisis’ that promotes large-scale, profitable investments as a form of green growth through debt-financing. The political orchestration and administration of new funding mechanisms (particularly green bonds and sustainable bonds) requires a new form of climate governance focused on the channeling of enormous sums of private capital through an assemblage of intermediaries toward profitable climate projects. This article interrogates this trend in climate finance, revealing that the framing, monetization, and orchestration of climate projects is dependent on a narrative of crisis capitalism deeply rooted in a colonial mindset of exploitation and profit. A key aim of this article is to deconstruct the contemporary dominance of crisis-oriented development and suggest the goal of decolonizing and democratizing the climate finance system.
Highlights
Cities in the 21st century are attempting a multi-pronged response to climate change in an uncertain landscape of interlocking crises
While narratives of crisis are employed at various scales of politics and governance, this article addresses the recent mainstreaming of crisis in the governance of climate finance at the municipal scale
As Angelo and Wachsmuth (2020) note, climate change has provided the context for the global institutionalization of urban sustainability and climate action, with multilateral organizations, philanthropic foundations, and development agencies focusing much of their attention on cities as the most effective scale of intervention
Summary
Cities in the 21st century are attempting a multi-pronged response to climate change in an uncertain landscape of interlocking crises. As multilateral agencies and development organizations court a purportedly necessary partnership with private financial institutions of the global North, they have become focused on risk-averse and profitable (or ‘bankable’) climate-related projects. This partnership may be attractive to private investment, but it requires intermediaries and recipients to navigate an increasingly complex system of climate finance that lacks oversight, accountability, and efficiency. I outline the ways in which the governance of climate finance has evolved since the global financial crisis This includes a section on the framing of the climate crisis as an urgent and expensive challenge that requires private sector leadership. The article ends with a critique of this system, along with suggestions for strategies to decolonize and democratize climate-oriented development
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