Inserção internacional e energia: a política externa de Lula para biocombustíveis

Abstract

The change in the global energy scene in recent years has brought to the agenda of foreign policy of major powers, the need to seek new forms of energy that lessened the dependence on fossil fuels and represented an alternative to its use. In this context, Brazil has the essential conditions to lead global debate on renewable energy, especially with regard to biofuels, because it has extensive experience in the production and utilization of this energy source. Thus, since 2003, Brazil started to design and implement international cooperation projects in the area of biofuels, aiming to expand the number of countries that are producers of this kind of energy, especially the African continent and the so called "Tropical Belt ". However, following the logic of increasing the complexity of foreign policy that we have seen in recent years, these processes did not occur in a linear manner and without contradictions, since many domestic actors and systemic determinants influenced the measures adopted by the government in the moment to cooperate with other countries. Assuming that the interest of private companies and the strategic objectives of the Brazilian government are strongly linked in the implementation of these projects, and using the literature review as a method, this paper tries to observe which are the material basis and the political foundations of these collaborative projects in the biofuels industry. Also, it is intended to map the main actors, their interests, preferences and behaviors, and especially their influence on the agendas of Brazilian foreign policy at the beginning of XXI century.