Wim Carton

Research areas

The politics of climate change mitigation, carbon dioxide removal and negative emissions; carbon markets and carbon offsetting; political ecology; political economy; environmental geography; climate justice; agroecology.

Current research

My current research centers on the politics, political economy and political ecology of climate change mitigation, with a particular focus on negative emissions / carbon removal. The research projects that I am part of for example study the politics of modelling negative emissions in integrated assessment models; the assumptions underpinning projections of large-scale carbon removal; the extent and form in which these are being taken up by policy makers in different countries; and the various narratives and imaginaries about negative emissions that are being produced by corporations, policy makers and in civil society. My research also investigates the implementation of specific carbon removal projects, through technologies ranging from 'natural climate solutions' such as perennial agriculture and large-scale tree planting, to bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC). This involves, for example, examining the political and economic conditions for project implementation across different geographies and the political economy of project development and finance. A key theme running through my research is the question of climate justice. 

All my publications are available through researchgate. If you would like to access the published version for any of them and cannot get a hold of it, just send me an email.

Teaching 

I am involved in a number of courses at LUCSUS and at the Department of Human Geography, focused mostly on political ecology and environmental sustainability. I'm currently responsible for two courses:

- MESS55 on Political Ecology, an elective master course for the LUMES program

- MESS62 - Climate Change and Society, a free-standing selective course offered by LUCSUS

I am particularly interested in supervising student projects and theses that pursue topics related to the political economy and/or political ecology of climate change, climate change policy, renewable energy developments, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture and forestry. This could for example include a thematic focus on carbon forestry, carbon offsetting, biodiversity offsetting, negative emission technologies, climate and environmental justice, EU and/or Swedish forest policy, climate smart agriculture, agroforestry, rewilding, ... I'm of course open for other proposals as well.