Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
21 Outsourcing Emissions:
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
as Ecological Modernisation
Anup Sam Ninan
Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Bremen,
Germany
21.1 Introduction
Ecological Modernisation (EM), which emerged as a major theoretical perspective
in environmental sociology and politics during the last decades of the twentieth
century, addresses the advanced industrial development and the ecological crises
associated with it. Besides playing a significant role in the discussions on state,
production and consumption within the environmental social science academia,
the perspective is highly influential in both strategic environmental planning by
governments and the restructuring of production by manufacturers (Mol and
Spaargaren 2005; Murphy 2000).
Closely integrated to the neoliberal ideas of economic organisation, the Eco-
logical Modernisation 'theory' aims to analyse how contemporary industrialised
societies deal with environmental crises (Mol and Sonnenfeld 2000). As an 'im-
proved' synonym for Sustainable Development, EM proposes that environmental
problems can be sufficiently dealt within the framework of continued modernisa-
tion of capitalism and the application of modern experimental sciences (Buttel
2000) and presumes that economic growth and environmental protection can be
symbiotic. It is claimed that the malleability of EM with the institutions and tech-
nological capabilities of industrial capitalism, particularly in the wake of the po-
litical challenge posed by radical environmentalism, is a significant aspect behind
its emerging prominence (Buttel 2000). As an approach that presupposes un-
planned social change (Mol 1995) EM identifies economic actors and entrepre-
neurs as among the most important constituents who bring forth transformation
(Murphy 2000) even though the perspective upholds the need for macro economic
structural changes. However, the discursive realm of EM can not be restricted to
the ecological and economic interrelations, rather it revolves around the economic,
political and social processes that integrate the ecological phenomena to moderni-
Search WWH ::
Custom Search