Climate corruption, fraud etc

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Lorraine Elliott

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Oct 15, 2024, 3:29:44 AM (11 days ago) Oct 15
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Dear colleagues

Is anyone working on climate corruption, fraud etc - or can you direct me to sources (academic, research/think tanks, NGOs)? I know this is a broad topic, so it could be in the context of fraud and emissions trading; corruption re climate finance; corruption re climate mitigation projects or fraudulent claims about emissions ... or anything else that is relevant. 

As always, happy to have people email me directly and I can put together a list of responses for the whole group. 

All best
Lorraine 

Professor Emerita Lorraine Elliott

Department of International Relations

Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs
College of Asia and the Pacific
The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA
t: +61 2 61250589

Office: 3.41 Hedley Bull Centre

Garran Road

 

Lead Faculty, Earth System Governance (www.earthsystemgovernance.org)

Associate Senior Fellow, RUSI/London (https://www.rusi.org/people/elliott)

International Advisory Committee, Platform on Disaster Displacement (https://disasterdisplacement.org/)

Network of Experts, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (https://globalinitiative.net/)

Series co-editor, The ACUNS Series on the UN System (Edward Elgar Publishers; https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/book-series/politics-and-public-policy/the-acuns-series-on-the-un-system.html)

Lorraine Elliott

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Oct 17, 2024, 11:36:35 PM (8 days ago) Oct 17
to GEPED
Dear all
 
As promised, a summary of responses to my inquiry re carbon corruption, fraud … and thanks to everyone who made suggestions.
 
I did use the terms corruption and fraud without defining them, partly because I was interested to see what this might flush out by way of response.
 
But here’s a couple of sources on defining and operationalising corruption in other areas of environmental crime, specifically wildlife and forest crime:
 
 
Wyatt, Tanya et al (2018) ‘Corruption and Wildlife Trafficking: Three Case Studies Involving Asia’, Asian Journal of Criminology,  vol 13, 35–55, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11417-017-9255-8
 
The suggestions in response to my initial inquiry show that even if we understand corruption/fraud as profit-driven crime, this can function across a spectrum of behaviours ranging from corruption-fraud-bribery through to obstruction and greenwashing. Regarding questions of scale and criminal agency, carbon crime occurs in corporate, state, official and individual forms, and at multiple scales from the global through the national, to the sub-national and local. The framing literature also ranged from criminological and criminal justice approaches through to legal responses and remedies through to climate justice concerns.
 
Institutional efforts:
 
  • Climate Social Science Network – including some fascinating work on climate obstruction

Sources specifically on climate crime and fraud:
 
Gibbs, Carole and Michael Cassidy (2016) ‘Crimes in the carbon market’ in Lorraine Elliott and William H Schaedla (eds) Handbook of Transnational Environmental Crime (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing) – written from a criminological lens

Sources on crimes, corruption etc in the context of climate finance, offsets etc:
 
Kemerink-Seyoum, et al (2018) ‘Sharing benefits or fueling conflicts? The elusive quest for organizational blue-prints in climate financed forestry projects in Ethiopia’, Global Environmental Change, 53: 265-272
 
Rajão, Raoni and Camilla Barcolino (2016) ‘Between Indians and “Cowboys”: The Role of ICT in the Management of Contradictory Self-images and the Production of Carbon Credits in the Brazilian Amazon’, Journal of Information Technology, 31(4); https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1057/s41265-016-0024-4
 
Montgomery, A. Wren et al  (2023) ‘No End in Sight? A Greenwash Review and Research Agenda’, Organization and Environment, 37(2), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10860266231168905
 
Elges, Lisa - https://www.buch7.de/produkt/stratospheric-ozone-damage-and-legal-liability-lisa-elges/1029000029?ean=9781317234173 – focus is on ozone but it provides some interesting possibilities for thinking about legal remedies and tort law in the context of climate crime, toxic tort cases and corporate liability
 
And to be true to all the responses, though this isn’t quite what I was looking for – this also, which I think is making an argument that the whole climate narrative is corrupt or fraudulent? “The Fatal Flaw in Artificial Intelligence: Climate Change?”
https://judithcurry.com/2024/10/06/the-fatal-flaw-in-artificial-intelligence-climate-change/
 

Thanks again
Lorraine

Professor Emerita Lorraine Elliott

Department of International Relations

Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs
College of Asia and the Pacific
The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA
t: +61 2 61250589

Office: 3.41 Hedley Bull Centre

Garran Road

 

Lead Faculty, Earth System Governance (www.earthsystemgovernance.org)

Associate Senior Fellow, RUSI/London (https://www.rusi.org/people/elliott)

International Advisory Committee, Platform on Disaster Displacement (https://disasterdisplacement.org/)

Network of Experts, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (https://globalinitiative.net/)

Series co-editor, The ACUNS Series on the UN System (Edward Elgar Publishers; https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/book-series/politics-and-public-policy/the-acuns-series-on-the-un-system.html)


From: Lorraine Elliott <Lorraine...@anu.edu.au>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2024 6:29 PM
To: GEPED <gep...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Climate corruption, fraud etc
 
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