Carbon lock-in: why international financial centres matter for post-carbon transitions

International financial centres (IFCs) are not merely sites where global capital concentrates; they are legal-economic architectures that actively reproduce carbon lock-in. This commentary conceptualises IFCs as socio-spatial technologies through which financial power is organised, jurisdictional competition institutionalised and fossil fuel-aligned capital sheltered and expanded. Drawing on work on carbon democracy and the asset economy, it argues that IFCs function as command nodes in the reproduction of carbon-intensive accumulation. Crucially, the legal and advisory firms that design regulatory infrastructures have themselves become financialised, embedding growth imperatives into financial rule-making. Climate governance is thereby folded into, rather than disruptive of, existing financial architectures. This commentary calls for forensic research into the legal and institutional structures through which IFCs constrain rapid and just post-carbon transitions.