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Unravelling the argument for bioenergy production in developing countries: A world-economy perspective

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  • Kuchler, Magdalena

Abstract

This paper offers a critical look at how energy security-, food and agriculture-, and climate change-oriented international organizations frame biomass energy production in developing countries, in particular, ethanol production in Brazil. Using the world-economy system as a theoretical lens, the paper raises a concern as to whether the way these global institutions frame bioenergy's role in developing regions manifests energy and ecological inequalities between the core and the periphery, as well as creates internal contradictions that perpetuate unequal exchange embedded in the system. Simultaneously, these organizations frame Brazil as a semi-peripheral state that, while successful in finding a niche concurring with the core's demand for cheap energy and cost-effective decarbonization strategies, is not necessarily a suitable role model for the periphery's socio-economic development.

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  • Kuchler, Magdalena, 2010. "Unravelling the argument for bioenergy production in developing countries: A world-economy perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1336-1343, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:69:y:2010:i:6:p:1336-1343
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cohen, Marc J. & Tirado, Cristina & Aberman, Noora-Lisa & Thompson, Brian, 2008. "Impact of climate change and bioenergy on nutrition," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number Climate:2008.
    2. Hornborg, Alf, 1998. "Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange: articulating world system theory and ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 127-136, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Söderberg, Charlotta & Eckerberg, Katarina, 2013. "Rising policy conflicts in Europe over bioenergy and forestry," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 112-119.
    2. Bodas Freitas, Isabel Maria & Dantas, Eva & Iizuka, Michiko, 2012. "The Kyoto mechanisms and the diffusion of renewable energy technologies in the BRICS," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 118-128.
    3. Magdalena Kuchler & Johan Hedrén, 2016. "Bioenergy as an Empty Signifier," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 235-251, May.
    4. Kuchler, Magdalena, 2014. "Sweet dreams (are made of cellulose): Sociotechnical imaginaries of second-generation bioenergy in the global debate," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 431-437.

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