Social Dynamics of Renewable Energy—How the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive Triggers Land Pressure in Tanzania

AuthorSara Brogaard,David Harnesk
Published date01 June 2017
Date01 June 2017
DOI10.1177/1070496516681043
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Social Dynamics
of Renewable
Energy—How the
European Union’s
Renewable Energy
Directive Triggers Land
Pressure in Tanzania
David Harnesk
1,2
and Sara Brogaard
1
Abstract
The European Union plays a globally influential role in environmental legislation, with
policies and regulation rooted in particular norms. Through a narrative on regulatory
capitalism, ecological modernization, and diffusion, we trace how the promotion of
renewable energy in transport through subsidies, mandatory targets, and prescriptive
criteria for liquid biofuels mobilize social forces for its market development.
The study identifiesprevailing norms, mechanisms of decision making, and the network
of actors involved in this regulatory regime and also identifies where and through
whom its expansion influenced decisions in Tanzania. The findings show how this
regime emphasizes systematic eco-innovation of energy technologies, has a substitut-
able approach to natural capital, and subordinates social concerns to economic effi-
ciency. The analysis shows how this regime mobilized a broader network of actors
with similar interests, who mediated the political space of liquid biofuels in Tanzania in
ways which conflicted with a domestic critique concerning land use.
Keywords
biofuel, diffusion, ecological modernization, European Union, regulation, Tanzania,
sustainability criteria, agrofuels, land use
Journal of Environment &
Development
2017, Vol. 26(2) 156–185
!The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1070496516681043
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1
Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund, Sweden
2
Lund University Centre of Excellence for the Integration of the Social and Natural Dimensions of
Sustainability, Lund, Sweden
Corresponding Author:
David Harnesk, Lunds Universitet, Josephson, Biskopsgatan 5, Lund 221 00, Sweden.
Email: david.harnesk@lucsus.lu.se
Global warming increases the pressure on land, although unevenly distributed
across the world, as sea levels rise and heat waves change the conditions for
agricultural production and energy conversion. The European Union (EU) plays
an inf‌luential role in taking on political leadership on global environmental
change, especially compared with international negotiations, civil society acti-
vism, and private sector initiatives, who have thus far not determined outcomes
in a decisive manner (Cle
´menc¸ on, 2016). But political responses to reduce
carbon emissions run the risk of further increasing the pressure on land in
ways that aggravate the already unevenly distributed impacts of a changing
climate. Notably, the EU’s way of promoting liquid biofuel for transport has
remained a debated subject, especially from the point of view of sustainability in
sub-Saharan Africa (Elgert, 2012; Fortin, 2013; Fortin & Richardson, 2013;
Schouten, Leroy, & Glasbergen, 2012).
In particular, the critique of liquid biofuels is concerned with issues of envir-
onment and development (Neville & Dauvergne, 2016). In terms of distribu-
tional equity, adverse ef‌fects caused by the expansion of liquid
biofuels—including soil degradation, deforestation, water scarcity (cf. Mol,
2010), displacement, and food insecurity (cf. Matondi, Havnevik, & Beyene,
2011)—have mainly impacted communities that are considered poor and mar-
ginalized (cf. Ariza-Montobbia, 2010) and were normally incorporated into
production in some way (Borras, Franco, Go
´mez, Kay, & Spoor, 2012).
Further, the inf‌luence from investments and global value chains is becoming
increasingly obscured as some actors are rendered invisible via new forms of
f‌inancialization (Clapp, 2014; Clapp & Helleiner, 2012). Due to the shifting
narratives, or ‘‘discursive f‌lexibility’’ (Hunsberger & Alonso-Fradejas, 2016),
the policies and practices surrounding liquid biofuels are af‌fected, as the lan-
guage surrounding them constantly changes, including liquid biofuels being
silver bullet solutions, creators of food versus fuel standof‌fs, and excuses for
neocolonial land grabs (Neville & Dauvergne, 2016, pp. 654–655; see also
Montefrio & Sonnenfeld, 2011). In part, this is because of that the feedstock
can be sold on multiple markets, under certain conditions interchangeably (cf.
Borras, Franco, Isakson, Levidow, & Vervest, 2016), ef‌fectively aligning the
promotion of liquid biofuels with prevailing power relations associated with
agribusiness and development agencies (Dauvergne & Neville, 2009; see also
Pichler, 2013). This f‌lexibility makes them dif‌f‌icult, yet increasingly important,
study objects as their markets continue to expand (Borras, Franco, Isakson,
Levidow, & Vervest, 2014). Finally, in addition to being connected to an emer-
ging political economy of liquid biofuel, these issues all relate to conf‌licts over
changes in land-use practices and tenure.
However, despite intense debate, little theoretically informed and empirically
grounded attention has been given to the underlying political–economic–
ecological dynamics involved in the policy promotion of liquid biofuel in
Harnesk and Brogaard 157

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