Fueling a Just Transition Towards Low Carbon Societies

The transition of the energy sector towards higher shares of renewable energies (RE) addressing issues like climate change and energy security has caught political attention in many countries. Biofuels have emerged in the context of RE with the potential to increase efficiency in transport and agriculture sectors towards a low carbon society. However, representing a typical case of decision making under complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty, its development has raised many debates about its sustainability. The so-called first generation of biofuels has been questioned in relation to food versus fuel dilemma, social issues, carbon accounting and land use offsets, thus, the development of new biofuel production technologies is being targeted. In this scenario of rapid changes and increasing technological innovations the advanced biofuels from non-competing sources with other sectors and with an expected enhanced socio-environmental performance have been emerging recently. International climate pressures, multi-lateral agreements, new policies and specific mandates for the use of more sustainable biofuels have demonstrated the imminent need for a shift from the first generation to advanced biofuels. Although this change is still ongoing and there are many uncertainties about its full development and acceptance, most producing countries are developing these new biofuels. This transition process may encounter multifaceted challenges in the coordination of its governance related to transformative changes in technologies, organizations and institutions, policy changes processes necessary to implement, adapt and discontinue related public policies and especially an urgent need to increase social cohesion and improve understandings of the social dimension of sustainability in the biofuel sector. Motivated by the gap in the literature about the subject, the objective of this study will aim to critically analyze the dynamics in the biofuels sector context through sustainability transitions lens in different contexts and realities. The research will try to answer the question: What does a ‘Just Transition’ means for the Biofuels sector and How the context-related factors have been influencing the dynamics for a just transition to advanced biofuels? In an attempt to understand and provide political and strategic support these systems and policymakers, I will frame a North-South perspective through the experiences of Sweden and Brazil. From the methodological point of view, I intend to perform a systematic analysis with a socio-technical and socio-political focus, through a timeframe involving past-present-future and with a cross-scale range going from global to regional contexts in order to understand the process in a holistic perspective. I will undertake a qualitative cross-national comparative analysis based on in-depth case studies employing several conceptual streams and a multi-method for data collection. Results are expected to contribute to the sustainable development of advanced biofuels, to help policymakers to shape better policy designs, and to contribute to the study of transitions.