Purpose - This paper seeks to examine how the biodiversity comprising a
tropical forest ecosystem is being protected as a result of having its
conservation brought into financial accounting calculations by
constructing a greenhouse gas emissions offset product to sell on the
voluntary over-the-counter carbon markets. Design/methodology/approach -
The research examines a single embedded case study of a biodiversity
conservation project in Kenya. The resulting discussion builds upon the
existing accounting and organisation studies literature regarding the
construction of markets. Findings - Whilst the case examined does
successfully bring tropical forest biodiversity conservation into the
financial accounting calculations of the sellers and buyers of the
offset product, via processes of objectification and singularisation,
there are considerable accounting obstacles to constructing a
calculative mechanism capable of achieving this on a global scale to
facilitate financing of the conservation of all the world's remaining
tropical forest biodiversity. Originality/value - The paper contributes
to the debate on accounting for biodiversity by examining market
construction as a theoretical framework for turning the
loss/conservation of biodiversity from an externality into an entity
that is taken into account in organisations' calculations of profit and
loss.