Calculative infrastructures of net zero urban governance: A transformative science-based agenda or reductive territorial project?

Abstract

The current emphasis on data-driven urban climate governance, while not a new project, is nevertheless evolving as part of a new calculative politics shaped by a net zero agenda. This urban project is realised via the development of calculative infrastructures that deploy more robust measurement fields through which urban action can be made directly relevant to global climate targets. A key premise is that it is possible to project the global scientific concept of net zero onto the ground as a territorial target, which in turn relies on the technical work of balancing emissions. I argue that this often materialises as a reductive governance project based on the accountability of public actors to new carbon balance sheets, wholly detached from a more systemic transition politics. This critical commentary begins by introducing net zero as an urban agenda and explores how calculative infrastructures offer the means of making a consolidated international agenda actionable as an urban territorial governance project. I examine the urban carbon inventory protocol as the foundation to other calculative work and discuss three subsequent infrastructure projects: reporting frameworks and platforms, scenario planning tools and carbon budgets. This calculative project promises a long-term pathway to decarbonisation but is based on a narrow lens that misjudges the more systemic transformation that must take place. The commentary concludes by considering how (or if) net zero as a political framework could support a more radical transition politics.