Renewable energy production has grown exponentially and is indeed our only option for a sustainable future — this much nearly everyone knows.
However, while renewable energy is a must, we must remember it is not per se sustainable. The biofuels conundrum has made crystal clear the importance of promoting renewable energy adequately, with policies that take into account multiple environmental aspects (not only greenhouse gas emissions reductions) and human needs.
In other words, the question is not simply how to foster renewable energy production and use, but how to devise policy instruments that promote it effectively, equitably, and sustainably. Ultimately, we also need to think of how renewable energy is governed, its political implications and in what directions these developments exactly take us.
I did my PhD on renewable energy policy and governance and have in total over 8 years of experience on this subject. I have analysed EU policies, fledging efforts to govern renewable energy at the international level, as much as developments in this direction in emerging economies (particularly Brazil, India and Indonesia, case studies of my PhD on biofuels).
Below are relevant projects and publications related to Renewable Energy.
(See also my forefront area of interest: “Third Industrial Revolution” Energy Systems.)
Related Projects
♦ The Politics of Biofuel Governance and Emerging Green Economies
This was my PhD research project, where I assessed the social, political and various institutional dimensions of “green economy” promotion, taking biofuels as an example and Brazil, India and Indonesia as case studies. I analysed the fledgling efforts at renewable energy and “green economy” governance at the international level as well as the institutional architectures for sustainable development, agency and policy entrepreneurship, and social equity dimensions in the context of selected case studies (Brazil, India, and Indonesia).
Related Publications
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2022). Just transition towards a bioeconomy: Four dimensions in Brazil, India and Indonesia. Forest Policy and Economics 136, 102684. [Online access]
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2021). “Corporate Power in the Bioeconomy Transition: The Policies and Politics of Conservative Ecological Modernization in Brazil.” Sustainability 13(12), 6952. [Open access].
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2021). The Politics of Bioeconomy and Sustainability: Lessons from Biofuel Governance, Policies and Production Strategies in the Emerging World. Springer, Dordrecht. [Online access].
Bastos Lima, M.G. and Siegel, K.M. (2020). Promoting inclusive bioeconomies? Lessons from agri-food governance and the politics of the Sustainable Development Goals in South America. ZEF Policy Brief n.37. [Online access]
Ivanova, A., Zia, A., Ahmad, P., and Bastos Lima, M.G. (2020). “Climate mitigation policies and actions: access and allocation issues.” International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, forthcoming issue. [Online access].
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2018). “Toward Multipurpose Agriculture: Food, Fuels, Flex Crops, and Prospects for a Bioeconomy“. Global Environmental Politics 18(2), 143-150. [Online access].
Bastos Lima, M.G. and Gupta, J. (2014). “The Extraterritorial Dimensions of Biofuel Policies and the Politics of Scale: Live and Let Die?” Third World Quarterly, 35(3), 392-410 [Online access].
Bastos Lima, M.G. and Gupta, J. (2013). “The Policy Context of Biofuels: A Case of Non-Governance at the Global Level?” Global Environmental Politics, 13(2), 46-64. [Online access]
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2013). Adjusting Biofuel Policies to meet Social and Rural Development Needs: Analysing the experiences of Brazil, India and Indonesia. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Policy research brief N.40, Brasilia, Brazil. [Online access]
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2012). “The Brazilian Biofuel Industry: Achievements and geopolitical challenges”, in Secure Oil and Alternative Energy: The Geopolitics of Energy Paths of China and the European Union (ed. M.P. Amineh and Yang Guang). Brill Publishing, Leiden.
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2012). “An Institutional Analysis of Biofuel Policies and their Social Implications: Lessons from Brazil, India and Indonesia.” United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Occasional Paper n.9, series “Social Dimensions of Green Economy and Sustainable Development”. [Online access]
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2012). Review of “Environmental, Economic and Policy aspects of Biofuels”, by Deepak Rajagopal and David Zilberman. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 12(1), 105-107. [Online access].
Kuik, O., Bastos Lima, M.G and Gupta, J. (2011). “Energy Security in a Developing World“. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews, 2(4), 627-634. [Online access]
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2010). Review of “Global Energy Governance in a Multipolar World”, by Dries Lesage, Thijs van de Graaf, and Kirsten Westphal. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law (RECIEL), 19(3), 368-370.
Bastos Lima, M.G. (2009). “Biofuel Governance and International Legal Principles: Is it Equitable and Sustainable?” Melbourne Journal of International Law, 10(2), 470-492. [Online access]. (This article was selected for a follow-up debate on the Opinio Juris discussion board with Prof. C. Ford Runge, here)
Bastos Lima, M.G. and Gupta, J. (2009) Biofuel and Global Change: The need for a multilateral governance framework. 2009 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. Amsterdam.