This episode focuses on ‘negative emission’ technologies, which aim to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, either indirectly by influencing natural processes or directly through technology.

Our guest, Dr Wim Carton, points out how carbon removal is closely linked to the idea of ‘overshoot’: an actively advocated agenda for dealing with the current rush to climate catastrophe. Overshoot basically means that we accept to temporarily cross critical temperature limits and then these technologies will solve the problem of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at some point in the future. It’s part of the IPCC scenarios and the Paris Agreement, and it is implicitly justifying the continued use of fossil fuels. Wim also introduces us to IAMs, Integrated Assessment Models, whose underlying economic assumptions reinforce the logic of postponing fossil fuel cuts by making them seem more expensive than fixing them later through negative emissions.

Wim Carton has just written a book on the subject (with Andreas Malm) called “Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Collapse”. He is a human geographer at the Centre for Sustainability Studies at Lund University and has been studying the political economy of climate change mitigation for the past decade. His research has examined the impact of ‘market-based mechanisms’ on climate policy.

For additional resources and a deeper exploration of Wim’s work and views, please visit:

https://www.lucsus.lu.se/wim-carton

Further reading:

Malm, A., & Carton, W. (2024). Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown. New York/London: Verso Books.

Malm, A., & Carton, W. (forthcoming). The Long Heat: Climate Politics When It’s Too Late. New York/London: Verso Books.

Carton, W. (2019). “Fixing” Climate Change by Mortgaging the Future: Negative Emissions, Spatiotemporal Fixes, and the Political Economy of Delay. Antipode, 51(3), 750–769. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12532

Carton, W. (2017). Dancing to the Rhythms of the Fossil Fuel Landscape: Landscape Inertia and the Temporal Limits to Market-Based Climate Policy. Antipode, 49(1), 43–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12262

Beyond the Fix is brought to you by Critical Scientists Switzerland, an independent network of scientists. It is made possible by the Stiftung Mercator Schweiz and produced by Podcastschmiede. Host: Thomas Kobel. Music: Mich Gerber.

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