Sound visualisation of REDD+ frequencies

Source: DAEMON: Detuning the Pitch of Spectral Temporalities by Hyeongji Yang This research explores the topology of invisible transactions produced by the infrastructures of climate finance and data surveillance systems, focusing particularly on the circulation of air that connects Vietnam’s REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) carbon offset projects to the financial and data systems of the Global North. From the first REDD+ pilot project and its monitoring system in Vietnam—which observes, records and monetises the forests of the Global Majority to offset the emissions of the North—to carbon credit trading platforms, this structure converts invisible air into currency. This is not merely a technical network, but constitutes a continuation of carbon colonialism, in which long-sedimented colonial epistemic logic has been transferred into today’s digital infrastructures. This research traces how ‘one tonne of air’—equivalent to a single carbon credit—is transformed into an accounting unit, revealing the invisible landscapes of power formed through the entanglement of forests, servers and financial algorithms.