Doctoral Dissertation Research: Implementing International Standards in the Commodification of Brazilian Biofuels

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

University of Pennsylvania doctoral student, Derek Newberry, supervised by Dr. Adriana Petryna, will undertake research on the creation and implementation of biofuel standards in São Paulo, Brazil. Brazilian biofuel producers seek to tap into global markets for sustainable energies but in order to do so, they must meet the social and environmental criteria mandated by the governments of countries where those markets are located. In response, ethanol executives have joined energy experts, government officials, and activists in Brazil and abroad to produce an environmental and social production standard, which is to be implemented by refinery managers. How these stakeholders with different understandings of morally responsible production create and implement standards will determine whether ethanol is successful as a major export and how its socio-environmental impacts are distributed. This research will therefore analyze the dynamic relationship between actors defining and implementing ethanol standards, describing the knowledge labor and work practices that constitute this emergent green energy commodity chain. Derek Newberry will conduct ethnographic fieldwork in São Paulo among professionals involved in creating ethanol sustainability standards and at a production site in the interior of the state where the standards are being put into practice. He will use a range of social science research methods including participant observation and in-depth interviews to collect data on the ethical ideas held by different actors about what constitutes morally responsible production. He will also investigate the work practices through which ideas about sustainable ethanol are selected and how these affect the standards and the production chain. Findings from this research will contribute to social science theory of how local processes connect with international ones, as viewed through the lens of cultures of regulation. The research may also support the promotion of transparency for ethanol standards negotiations that affect both the producers and the local residents who are impacted by production of this energy. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.