The Geopolitics of Renewable Energy: a perspective of Brazil and its biofuel industry

15 March 2011
13.30 - 15.00 hrs

Energy Programme Asia Lecture by Mairon G. Bastos Lima, MA, PhD candidate, Institute for Environmental Studies – Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Chair & discussant: Dr. Mehdi Amineh

Venue: GSSS, Prins Hendrikkade 189-B, Room C, Amsterdam

Much has been argued on the geopolitics of energy, especially of oil trade, and much has been said about the need for a transition to renewable energies. However, there is yet very little investigation on how renewable energies may, too, become an instrument of geopolitics. I propose to look at it taking the case of Brazil, increasingly regarded as a leader in its adoption of biofuels. The Brazilian biofuel industry has been growing fast, but how is it being used as a tool for stronger international relations and to advance Brazil’s ambition of becoming a world power? I first provide a state-of-the-art picture of the Brazilian biofuel industry and of its main issues with regard to production and to sustainability. Then, I discuss how that has become a geopolitical tool, and how it has been used differently in Brazil’s relations with Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and with its Latin American neighbours.

This lecture is organised within the Energy Programme Asia (EPA) Lecture Series 2011

Information
Dr Mehdi P. Amineh
EPA Programme Director
International Institute for Asian Studies
T +31 20 525 4567
m.p.amineh@uva.nl