Issue field Interaction in the voluntary carbon market

Issue fields are arenas where specific events, developments, and trends are deemed consequential and receive sustained attention from field members including activists, businesses, and governments. While issue field members frequently interact across different fields, current research predominantly concentrates on the internal evolution and dynamics within specific fields. We draw on an in-depth longitudinal analysis of the historical development of the carbon removal field, to understand the role of field-to-field interaction in issue field evolution. Our findings show how the broader carbon removal field developed into two distinctive sub-fields – the compliance and voluntary carbon market and unveil the three main actors in present in both, whose interactions were pivotal for each other’s evolution. By doing so, our research begins to unpack the mechanisms and consequences of field-to-field interactions within the context of issue fields, with a particular emphasis on those formed around pressing societal grand challenges.