Abstract
In recent years, actors ranging from environmental activists to financial institutions have argued that large parts of the world’s oil reserves may become “unburnable” or “stranded” as a consequence of international climate goals. This argument relies on a financial logic that is expressed in a series of specific tools, most notably so-called “cost curves” for fossil fuel resources. In this talk, I zoom in on these tools, tracing their roots in geological expertise and economic theory, and analysing their political effects. Using the case of Norway, I show how shifting geo-economic tools have been central to the governing of fossil fuel resources over the last 50 years, by drawing boundaries between what is “burnable” and what is “unburnable” at various points in time. I suggest that historicizing the tools with which fossil fuels are made and unmade may provide a better understanding of how fossil fuels are governed, and may even help explain why efforts to render oil “unburnable” have so far been largely unsuccessful.