Theory Culture & Society· 2026Q1
Underground jurisprudence: A counter-hegemonic appraisal of carbon sequestration
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Carbon sequestration's legal frameworks remain tied to fossil fuel extraction, failing to recognize unique subterranean properties for novel ownership models.
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Key points
- Geological carbon sequestration legal frameworks are parasitic on fossil fuel extraction models.
- Current jurisprudence fails to recognize unique properties of subterranean CO₂ storage.
- Achieving climate stabilization via CO₂ injection requires rethinking ownership and appropriation of nature.
- The 'rule of capture' historically legitimized hydrocarbon extraction but is insufficient for sequestration.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article interprets the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide as an opportunity to re-imagine the appropriability of nature and its resources. While the extraction of hydrocarbons was historically supported by radical innovations in the definition of legitimate ownership – most notably the relentlessly expansive interpretation of the ‘rule of capture’ in the United States – the need to inject billions of metric tonnes of CO₂ into the lithosphere to achieve any measure of climate stabilization has not generated any meaningful change in juridical reasoning. Legal and economic constructions of geologically sequestered carbon are for the most part parasitic on the measures of value and the modes of appropriation that legitimize fossil fuel mining. An examination of the spatial, temporal and material properties of CO₂ under conditions of ‘permanent’ subterranean storage offers clues, however, for a counter-hegemonic discourse.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Theory Culture & Society, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Law
LawSocial Sciences