Waiting for a deus ex machina: ‘Sustainable extractives’ in a 2°C world

Abstract

In recent years the oil industry has shifted from climate change denialism to advocacy of the Paris Agreement, championing sustainability in an apparent assertion (rather than rejection) of corporate responsibility. Meanwhile growth forecasts continue unabated to finance the industry’s enthusiasm for upstream ventures in uncharted territories. How do extractive companies, and those who work in them, square this contradiction? Fieldwork among oil company executives points to a new wave of techno-optimism: a deus ex machina that will descend from the labs of corporate research and development (R&D) labs to reconcile these irreconcilable imperatives. Rather than denial, the projection of win-win synergies between growth and sustainability involves a suspension of disbelief; an instrumental faith in the miraculous power of technology that tenders salvation without forsaking fossil fuels, or restructuring markets.

The Potential of Bioeconomic Innovations to Contribute to a Social-Ecological Transformation: A Case Study in the Livestock System

“…This does not mean framing technology in a pessimistic way; rather, we argue for a critical turn in society to acknowledge that sociotechnical innovation can of course have benefits for society and the environment but that the belief in techno-optimism does allocate the power to change to technological solutions rather than a combination of socio-technical, cultural and behavioural solutions; this approach supports business-as-usual strategies and, accordingly, the hope of a "deus ex machina" (cf. Rajak, 2020). Techno-optimism also implies overemphasizing the fallacy that humans are able to fully control environmental processes and has been argued to apply to other sectors as well (e.g.…”

“…Techno-optimism also implies overemphasizing the fallacy that humans are able to fully control environmental processes and has been argued to apply to other sectors as well (e.g. Markusson et al, 2017;Pfotenhaueret al, 2019;Rajak, 2020;Strand et al, 2018). This becomes explicit in the neoliberal belief that innovation, which is often associated with technological invention, is per se desirable (see also Schlaile et al, 2017).…”

Dynamics of wilful blindness: An introduction

“…The articles in this collection suggest that even when there is strategic meditation among some actors, these strategic deployments of ignorance are nested within more habitual forms of wilful blindness. Dinah Rajak’s (2020) article on wilful blindness in oil companies is emblematic in this regard. She focuses on sustainability managers who ‘want a future for our grandchildren too’, but end up accepting a ‘reality’ as defined by short-term market forces.…”

‘Not as single spies’: a review of European Social Anthropology 2020

“…Even teachers working to support such children fail to regard them as 'deserving' subjects. Rajak (2020) maps the discourse and practice of corporate social responsibility within the global oil industry, dramatising how, through a convenient suspension of disbelief, executives and shareholders maintain diametrically contradictory convictions in respect of (now mandatory) environmental sustainability, while remaining committed to everincreasing growth forecasts. Identifying a phenomenon of 'techno-optimism', she sees this form of 'magical thinking' deployed as a deus ex machina that will somehow intervene to reconcile these irreconcilable imperatives.…”