Carbon Capital - by Sean Field

About the Book

"This book is about how and why people who finance the US oil and gas industry ethically and financially evaluate energy and the factors that come to bear on these evaluations"--

Book Synopsis

Surprising insights into the worldviews of oil and gas financiers

It is no secret that the fossil fuel industry, whose products power modern America both physically and financially, inflicts immense destruction to our environment. The past, present, and future of US energy have been determined not just by engineers, but by financiers, an under-studied group of energy investors.

Drawing on four years of ethnographic work in Houston, Texas, the financial center of the oil industry, Carbon Capital explores how oil financiers decide what a good investment is, and how they incorporate ethics into their decision making. While many who are concerned about climate change see those involved in the gas and oil industries as immoral profit chasers who do not care about the environment, the author finds that this is not the case. His interviews and observations demonstrate that the people who finance the energy industries are actually deeply concerned with ethics. They grapple with questions about climate change and what it means to do the right thing, but the choices they make are ultimately guided by a combination of how they perceive the historical context in which they operate, their faith, which is largely religious Christian; their financial interests; plus the capitalist system in which they are running, all of which come together to shape their moral understandings about what a good energy future looks like. While the worldview of oil financiers may not align with our own, the author argues that given their importance in shaping environmental approaches, it is crucial that we understand what drives their ethical sensibilities.

Review Quotes

"Shows how finance, Christianity, and narrative have come together in Houston to shape the recent American energy regime. This energy regime, we learn in this highly readable ethnography, is also an ethical regime: a powerful set of sensibilities and imaginaries about the place of oil in humans' past, present, and future."--Douglas Rogers, author of The Depths of Russia: Oil, Power, and Culture after Socialism

"Ever wonder how, despite our climate emergency, oil and gas industry executives justify their continued investments? Sean Field's excellent book takes readers inside their ethical worlds and the visions of the future they see as just and right. Field shows how hydrocarbon financiers link their senses of value to financial actions, locking in future extraction with which we all must live. Understanding these ethical sensibilities, so divergent from those who fight against carbon extraction, is crucial for building momentum toward more sustainable environments."--Caitlin Zaloom, author of Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London

"Offers unprecedented insight into the ethics and values of those who finance the oil and gas industry. . . . .Essential reading for those who wish to challenge the ecocidal and genocidal momentum of petroculture."--Dominic Boyer, author of No More Fossils

About the Author

Sean Field is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology and the Director of Policy at the Centre for Energy Ethics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He leads the Financial Pathways theme of the multi-year Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods, funded by the Scottish Funding Council.