State capacity and the ‘value’ of sustainable finance: Understanding the state-mediated rent and value production through the Seychelles Blue Bonds

Abstract

Financial capital is currently being heralded for its potential to provide social and environmental transformations. This paper provides an in-depth case study of the Seychelles Blue Bond, highlighting the state’s (fiscal and planning) capacities as central in mediating the future rents and value production when channelling thematic bond proceeds. Even as the Blue Bonds tapped into private capital markets and bond proceeds were intended to provide leverage for private businesses, this operation was contingent on complex economic and environmental planning by the state. Using literature on fictitious capital, rent and the role of the state in governing natural resources, this paper shows how the state needed to govern investment flows and its environmental conditions simultaneously in the case of the Seychelles Blue Bonds. By examining how the state tries to govern environments and finance in tandem, this paper contributes to geographical research on public fiscal policy, financialisation and environmental governance.