Climate Moralities Offset

A Case of Formative Voluntary Carbon Markets

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5610340
AutoresTomi Lehtimäki (0000-0003-3782-4153, Institute for Criminology and Legal Policy University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland), Kamilla Karhunmaa (0000-0002-6134-8014, Department of Design Aalto University Espoo Finland), Tapio Reinekoski (0000-0002-5005-9030, Faculty of Social Sciences Unit of Social Research Tampere University Tampere Finland), Arttu Manninen (Sociology Department of Social Science University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland), Antti Manninen (University of Helsinki), Mikko J Virtanen (0000-0002-4308-3470, Sociology Department of Social Science University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland)
Año2025
Volumen76
Número5
Páginas953-964
Fecha de publicación2025-06-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-4446.70000
PMID40457611
OpenAlexW4411006727
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas65

This article contributes to sociological scholarship on climate change by examining the development of the voluntary carbon offset market in Finland. While intended to address the collective challenge of climate change, voluntary carbon offsetting has faced criticism for commodifying emissions and shifting responsibility to specific actors. Enabled by voluntary carbon markets, emissions and climate impacts are attributed to companies and individuals, reflecting the idea that each entity possesses its 'own' emissions that they can choose to offset. However, this attribution does not happen on its own. The present study thus examines how the collective problem of acting on climate change is coordinated through particular moral engagements. We focus on the socio-legal formatting of the voluntary carbon offset market in the context of Finland, a Nordic welfare state. We trace the trajectory of Compensate, a key Finnish offset provider whose activities sparked public controversy and led to criminal charges for violating the country's Money Collection Act as well as a legislative reform aimed at formalising voluntary offsets. The controversy centred on the nature of voluntary offsets and whether to consider them to be generally beneficial climate actions or self-interested activities. Based on the theory of the sociology of engagements, our analysis shows how actors engage in moral and political coordination in order to foster and sustain engagements with climate change. More broadly, our case demonstrates that producing and facilitating engagement with climate change through a voluntary market is not merely a matter of implementing effective instruments and arrangements-leading ultimately to the individualisation of climate action-but a result of complex moral and socio-legal formations. We conclude that the formatting of particularised climate engagements is a collectively produced process that necessitates an analysis of the shared moral coordination involved

Biology · Carbon offset · Climate change · Economics · Formative assessment · Management · Offset (computer science · Pedagogy · Sociology · Turnover · Climate Change and Geoengineering · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Computer Science · Ecology · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies