From Fossil Capitalism to Climate Capitalism: Contemporary Systems for Capitalist Accumulation and Incremental Climate Action

Abstract

Political economists have long developed theories to describe the relationship between our economic system, capitalism, and the environment. Laurie Adkin details some of the complexities of this issue in her work on climate capitalism and ecological democracy (2017, 3). She mentions ‘fossil capitalism,’ which is one of the foundational concepts in this ontology. More recently, the concept of ‘climate capitalism’ has emerged. Both fossil capitalism and climate capitalism are essential concepts to understand when studying the intersection of economic systems and the environment. In this paper, I will discuss the question: why have political economists developed the theoretical concept of ‘climate capitalism’ as a successor to ‘fossil capitalism?’ To address the question’s complexities, I will unpack it systematically, and consider related questions. In this paper, I argue that the shift from ‘fossil capitalism’ to ‘climate capitalism’ does not constitute a shift in the capitalist sentiment towards the environment, but rather is a strategic repositioning tactic of the capitalist accumulation class.