Commodifying the atmosphere: ‘pennies from heaven’?

Abstract

The atmosphere may be the most valuable resource on Earth and is worth orders of magnitude more to society than it costs as a hazard. However, the atmosphere, and information about the atmosphere, are increasingly being transformed from being considered as part of a global commons to being conceived of as a global commodity to be bought and sold. There are three basic types of atmospheric commodity: firstly, the material atmosphere itself; secondly, the physical properties of the atmosphere; and thirdly, data or information or predictions about the atmosphere. The global expenditure on national meteorological and climatological services and research has now been surpassed by the value of new economic instruments such as weather derivatives and climate emissions trading. Atmospheric scientists, climatologists and physical geographers need to be critically aware of what the consequences, both positive and negative, of these developments for science and society might be. This is particularly the case as climate change is increasingly providing new discourses for companies and governments to exploit as the atmosphere becomes a tradable green resource. This paper attempts to construct an initial critical framework of analysis drawing from broader literatures on the commodification of nature.

Socioscientific Issues and Multidisciplinarity in School Science Textbooks

“…Carbon emissions trading allows countries to emit a greater amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than their 'allowance' if they buy a permit from a country that has produced less (creating a 'carbon economy', Thornes & Randalls, 2007). Dalby (2007) notes that in practice emissions trading begins to replicate colonialism and 'imperial patterns' of trading, 'exporting products, people and convicts to colonies' (p. 113).…”

Economic Geographies of Financialization

“…Weather derivatives are a relatively new form of derivative contract, first used in the United States by Enron, Aquila Energy, and Koch Industries in 1996–1997 (see Randalls 2005). In contrast with weather insurance, which has long been used to manage the risks of high‐risk, low‐probability events like hurricanes or floods, weather derivatives are used by firms to hedge against low‐risk, high‐probability events, such as dry or wet periods or cold or warm seasons in a place that can affect the demand for their goods and services and hence their revenues, costs, and income (Thornes and Randalls 2007). Wine bars, restaurants, and theme parks, for example, can use weather derivatives to hedge the economic impact of a wetter‐than‐average summer, while energy companies may purchase weather derivative contracts as a “winter hedge” to compensate for a warmer‐than‐average winter in which they sell less gas or electricity (see Table 3).…”

Selling Conservation? Scientific Legitimacy and the Commodification of Conservation Tourism

“…Castree (2003) identifies six ways in which nature is being commodified: externally as a resource taken from the environment (like oil); directly as a purchased commodity (such as cylinders of oxygen); by proxy as a characteristic that affects the price of something else (for example, a lake view enhancing house prices); internally by producing new technologies that manipulate the environment (like cloudseeding technologies); in terms of the human body (such as organ trading); and informationally, as knowledge about the environment becomes traded (see also Thornes and Randalls (2007)). Drawing on this literature, it has been argued that ecotourism represents another arena in which nature is being commodified (King and Stewart 1996, Gray and Campbell 2007, Duffy 2008.…”