The politics of value: Platform economies in the ecological transition

Platform economies are not only at the core of emerging digital forms of value production, but they are also central to the terms and sociotechnical conditions of possibility for ecological transition. In this exploratory essay, I sketch a conceptual approach to understanding the making of these terms and conditions through the politics of value. Broadly speaking, the politics of value refers to power struggles over what is considered valuable, offering a critical lens for analyzing economies undergoing transformation. Concretely, I use the case of a green venture capital fund, its investors, and investee companies to explore the interface of data, platforms, investors, and policymakers amidst efforts toward an ecological transition. I demonstrate how the platform companies’ valorization of data relates to the economic form of revenue , which underwrites the value of the venture capital fund. This centrality of revenue in the production of value structures ecological transition in such a way as to focus on scalable business models, rather than on new technology and updated infrastructures.