ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that, in the interests of Climate Justice (CJ) radicalizing the ecological modernization discourse, 'natural capital' should be included in national accounting schemes to go beyond the traditional measurements of economic development in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other capital-based indicators. The most revealing case of an ecological modernization strategy – impossible to radicalize, but instead deserving of CJ rejection – is carbon trading. The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is the main site of carbon trading and has been moribund since its 2006 and 2008 peaks, when the right to emit extra carbon cost around €30/ton. The Donald Trump administration removed the US from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement in June 2017 on the grounds that compliance will be too expensive for the world's largest economy. The retreat from Paris opens up a new opportunity for a revived strategy and tactic: delegitimation of Trump, and sanctions against his regime and supportive US corporations more generally.
