Beyond the ‘tyranny of metrics’? Indicator literacy in sustainable finance

Eyre, Ben, Bonilla, Oiara, Brightman, Marc and Voicu, Stefan (2024) Beyond the ‘tyranny of metrics’? Indicator literacy in sustainable finance. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 115 (5). pp. 582-597. ISSN 0040-747X

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Abstract

Sustainable finance ‘thought leaders’ call for metrics as the key to aligning investment with sustainability objectives and harnessing the market for ‘good’. In this article, we consider how measurement is used in sustainable finance through three case studies of financial instruments described as bonds (green, forest, and impact) and develop Sally Engle Merry's concept of ‘indicator literacy’ as a contribution to critical geographies of sustainable finance. Through ethnography, we explore how labelling financial products as sustainable (and therefore moral) increasingly relies on claims to achieve measurable outcomes and how attention to spatial and scalar dynamics illuminates what this leaves out.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding information: This work received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 772544 IMPACT HAU). Eyre's work on this article was supported by an Early Career Fellowship from the UK's Leverhulme Trust.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sustainable finance,esg,impact investing,business anthropology,sustainable business
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	19 Apr 2024 09:30
Last Modified:	28 Jan 2025 23:06
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/94968
DOI:

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