TY - JOUR
T1 - Greening oil money
T2 - The geopolitics of energy finance going green
AU - Koch, Natalie
N1 - Funding Information:
Research for this article was supported by an IASS-Potsdam visiting fellowship; Fulbright Middle East and North Africa Regional Research Program; an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship for Experienced Researchers; Syracuse University's Department of Geography and the Environment; and a CUSE Grant from the Syracuse University Office of Sponsored Programs. Any opinions presented here are entirely my own, and do not reflect the views of any sponsors. For their comments on early versions of this article, the author would also like to thank Tobias Zumbrägel, Matt Huber, colleagues at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Geography Institute and Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Regionalstudien, as well as the IASS-Potsdam Energy working group.
Funding Information:
Research for this article was supported by an IASS-Potsdam visiting fellowship; Fulbright Middle East and North Africa Regional Research Program ; an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship for Experienced Researchers; Syracuse University 's Department of Geography and the Environment; and a CUSE Grant from the Syracuse University Office of Sponsored Programs. Any opinions presented here are entirely my own, and do not reflect the views of any sponsors. For their comments on early versions of this article, the author would also like to thank Tobias Zumbrägel, Matt Huber, colleagues at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Geography Institute and Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Regionalstudien, as well as the IASS-Potsdam Energy working group.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - This article examines the role of “oil money” in promoting the energy transition, tracing activities across the oil industry and countries heavily dependent on oil revenues to bolster their green credentials. Through a case study of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), I argue that financial sustainability is paramount in places and institutions that feel threatened by fossil fuels divestment efforts and other threats to the oil business and the governmental and financial systems that have been built on and through hydrocarbons. Drawing on research in the UAE from 2014 to 2022, the article illustrates how corporate and government leaders profiting from hydrocarbon sales are searching for diversification opportunities to prolong the benefits of the oil money they control. But given the moral taint of oil money today, these actors are especially interested in the symbolic capital derived from “greening” this oil money by investing in sustainability and energy transition activities – which in turn might even allow them to retain control of global energy systems that they have dominated for so long.
AB - This article examines the role of “oil money” in promoting the energy transition, tracing activities across the oil industry and countries heavily dependent on oil revenues to bolster their green credentials. Through a case study of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), I argue that financial sustainability is paramount in places and institutions that feel threatened by fossil fuels divestment efforts and other threats to the oil business and the governmental and financial systems that have been built on and through hydrocarbons. Drawing on research in the UAE from 2014 to 2022, the article illustrates how corporate and government leaders profiting from hydrocarbon sales are searching for diversification opportunities to prolong the benefits of the oil money they control. But given the moral taint of oil money today, these actors are especially interested in the symbolic capital derived from “greening” this oil money by investing in sustainability and energy transition activities – which in turn might even allow them to retain control of global energy systems that they have dominated for so long.
KW - Climate finance
KW - Energy transition
KW - Oil company
KW - Sovereign wealth fund
KW - Sustainability
KW - United Arab Emirates
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U2 - 10.1016/j.erss.2022.102833
DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2022.102833
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85139733488
SN - 2214-6296
VL - 93
JO - Energy Research and Social Science
JF - Energy Research and Social Science
M1 - 102833
ER -