A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Conserving nature power: An exploration of biodiversity offsetting in Europe and beyond Andrea Christiane Brock Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations University of Sussex May 2018 i I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be submitted in whole or in part to another university for the award of any other degree. Name: Andrea Christiane Brock Signature:.................................................................... ii Summary This dissertation draws on multi-sited fieldwork to understand the history and development of biodiversity offsetting in Europe and beyond. It situates offsetting as a social technology of governance in the management of resistance and dissent against corporate and state degradation and violence, and as an instrument to flexibilise restrictive legislation imposing limits to industrial expansion in Europe. I analyse offsetting through the lens of corporate and state power and violence, contextualising it in the dominant social economic order, exploring its role in the advancement of social control and accumulation, and in the invisibilisation and entrenchment of the epistemic, physical and slow violence(s) exercised against human and nonhuman nature, in the form of industrialism and extractivism, state control and policing of dissent. While a critical literature on offsetting now contributes to our understanding of the tensions, politics and value struggles around offsetting, it has tended to focus on the ‘novel’ commodification and marketisation aspects of offsetting. It frequently privileges structural explanations rooted in the expansionary market logic unleashed under neoliberal capitalism, while overlooking the long history of the ideology and practice of offsetting, deeply rooted in industrialism, domestication and exploitation of human and nonhuman nature, and the need for corporate and state legitimacy in the face of (increasingly visible) social and ecological degradation and ever-more apparent failures of the green economy. By situating offsetting historically and in its political economic context, this thesis demystifies and denaturalises abstract ideas of the ‘market’. It challenges the emerging hegemony of critical analyses of offsetting that often resort to marketisation and financialisation as explanatory devices and contributes to the theorisation of the ongoing transformation of neoliberal capitalism, statehood and corporate citizenship, as part of wider processes of reconfigurations of governance that are the product of the dialectical relationship between capitalism, the state, and its critics. iii Acknowledgements This thesis would not exist without the support of my two supervisors, Pete Newell and James Fairhead, who have both been incredibly supportive not just of my dissertation project but also of the many other projects I have been involved in over the last few years. Thank you! I wouldn’t have started a PhD if it wasn’t for Henk Overbeek, and I probably wouldn’t have finished it if it wasn’t for all of the wonderful people I met on the way: my office mates, house mates and friends who have provided emotional support, inspiration and the occasional bottle of wine (or blueberry gin) throughout the years, cycled with me to Uni at 6am, danced with me in the office, listened to my problems, and gave me feedback. We laughed together, shared frustrations together and had fun together. I’ve enjoyed our endless discussions and nerdy jokes. Particular thanks to those who have read and commented on my work in the past: Xander, Sahil, Rich, Yavuz, Pedro, Maz, Dan, Sophie, Dinah, Michael, Tosca, Chris and Amber. Special thanks go to my parents, who couldn’t have been any more supportive and always there for me. And that’s although I didn’t even become a ‘proper’ scientist. Danke! I’m grateful to all of my interviewees who took the time to talk to me. The work was financially supported by the German Studies Foundation and the ESRC. Lastly, but most importantly, this work wouldn’t have been possible without the inspiration and motivation by the people fighting extractivism, oppression and ecocide around the world, imagining and living the better future we want to see. This thesis is dedicated to the Hambacher Forst, the forest defenders and all that resist the destruction of nature across the world. Love, rage and solidarity! iv Table of contents Summary ii Acknowledgements iii Table of figures v List of Abbreviations vi 1. Introduction: conserving nature or conserving power? 1 1.1. Research aims 4 1.2. Offsetting in Europe: institutionalisation and normalisation 6 1.3. Outline of this dissertation 9 1.4. Politics of this dissertation 11 1.5. Strategising methodology 13 1.6. Methods 17 1.7. Some reflections on positionality and ethics 19 2. Approaching biodiversity offsets: from financialisation to technology of governance 22 2.1. Offsetting nature – premises and critical approaches 25 2.2. Exploring ‘neoliberalism’ and its history 28 2.3. Back to Financialisation of Nature: Starting points, building blocks and departures 34 2.4. Humans, nature, non-human nature? 44 2.5. Situating violence 47 2.6. Conclusion 48 3. Making Europe’s nature offsettable: the spectacular performance of sustainability through discourse and (community of) practice 49 3.1. ‘Selling nature to save it’ – tracing discourses, ideologies and knowledge systems 50 3.2. Introducing the offsetting industry 67 3.3. The spectacular performance of conservation 77 3.4. Conclusion – enacting the theatrics of legitimising destruction through spectacle and ritual 92 4. Introducing No Net Loss: an attempt to anchor offsetting in the European political economy 94 4.1. Introducing the No Net Loss initiative... 96 4.2. Flexibilising and managing stringent EU nature legislation 103 4.3. Securing access to land and capital 113 4.4. Dealing with dissent 118 4.5. Conclusion – flexibilisation of limits and accumulation by restoration? 128 5. Green extractivism: a brief history of green mining and better coal 135 5.1. Extractivism, resistance and the state 137 5.2. The birth of ‘green mining’ and ‘better coal’ 140 5.3. From the Global Mining Initiative to the Mines, Minerals and Sustainable Development initiative 142 5.4. Offsetting mining impacts – introducing the offsetting-extraction nexus 147 5.5. Green mining of cleaner coal? 152 5.6. Conclusion 156 6. Licence to operate – licence to trash – licence to pacify? Biodiversity offsetting in the German lignite coal mining sector 159 6.1. The migrating mine 163 6.2. RWE’S political power: Lobbying and revolving doors 165 6.3. ‘Dirty coal is good for you’: engineering and buying consent through CSR, PR and outreach 171 6.4. Managing and repressing resistance: criminalisation, repression and violence 178 6.5. No net loss of trees: offsetting RWE’s coal mining impacts 184 6.6. Conclusion – cheap electricity and better nature 207 7. Greening extractivism – conserving power: conclusion 211 7.1. From Edinburgh conference centre into the ‘world’s largest hole’ – summary and main findings 212 7.2. Consolidating state power and corporate citizenship: situating offsetting as technology of governance 216 8. Bibliography 220 9. Annex 1: List of interviews 261 10. Annex 2: List of fieldwork events 262 11. Annex 3: Field visits 263 v Table of figures Figure 1 Rhinish coal region (own photos/Deicke, 2016) ............................................................ 21 Figure 2 Origins of the ecosystem concept (Gómez-Baggethun et al., 2010: 1213) ................... 57 Figure 3 Biodiversity risk as business risk (WWF, n.d.a) .............................................................. 65 Figure 4 BBOP conference sponsorship....................................................................................... 70 Figure 5 Royal opening (World Forum on Natural Capital, 2015a) .............................................. 75 Figure 6 Conference Foyer at the 2015 Natural Capital forum (World Forum on Natural Capital, 2015a) ......................................................................................................................................... 81 Figure 7 The globe as resource storage facility (World Forum on Natural Capital, 2015a) ......... 81 Figure 8 Presentation by Peter Bakker (World Forum on Natural Capital, 2015a) ...................... 82 Figure 9 Talk show-like arrangements at the 2015 Natural Capital forum (World Forum on Natural Capital, 2015a) ................................................................................................................ 83 Figure 10 Conference dinner (World Forum on Natural Capital, 2015a)..................................... 84 Figure 11 Conference summary (Forest Trends et al., 2014) ...................................................... 89 Figure 12 Bison herd on offset site (CDA, 2016) .......................................................................... 90 Figure 13