Channels, Fall 2018

Channels • 2018 • Volume 3 • Number 1 Page 101 pre-salt province led to federal laws and policies towards production-sharing agreements. Included in these governmental decisions were also stricter guidelines for environmental protection as compared to earlier concession agreements (Braga & Szklo, 2014). The state’s government plays a major role in altering practices of oil companies in implementing key areas of sustainable development and can be traced throughout Brazilian history with the monopoly era from 1953̶1997 under both the military dictatorship and return to democracy in the mid̶1980s, the era of decentralization from 1998̶2010 and the hybrid governance arrangement from 2010̶2013 (Aguiar & Friere, 2017). Dalgaard (2012) examines how the state of Brazil will engage in energy statecraft and use its energy resources for political purposes. Energy statecraft is often related to the global and intergovernmental level of analysis as each state seeks to use its energy policies at the international level, yet there is a clear level of local government involvement as seen with Brazil’s programs to develop and promote biofuels as a sustainable energy source. One must not simply note the presence of a governmental institution in influencing the role of NOCs in environmental sustainability, but one should distinguish between the forms of governmental institutions. Mehlum, Moene & Torvik (2006) differentiate the quality of institutions and their resulting policy towards the conservation of natural resources. They note “grabber-friendly” institutions result in lower total income while “producer-friendly” institutions result in increased income for areas of a high quantity of natural resources. There are also various international actors, such as IGOs like the United Nations (UN), which have played an influence on a state’s environmental agenda. This level of analysis is based off of the second image reversed model 1 coined by Gourevitch (1978), which recognizes external impulses as an influence to domestic interests and institutions. Kasa, affiliated with the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo, (2013) addresses the role of these external impulses on Brazil’s domestic policy to ensure a cleaner environment. One notable global agenda is the UNFCCC, which has led to increasing concern towards reducing climate change and interest in biofuel alternatives of energy production. The UNFCCC was first adopted and discussed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil alongside two other conventions, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. It then was officially formalized and entered into force in 1994. Since its conception, the UNFCCC has 197 party signatories and has adopted the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement to limit carbon emissions. “The ultimate objective of the Convention is to stabilize GHG concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human induced) interference with the climate system…to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner” (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2016). Furthermore, international or global bodies and organizations, such as the Organization for Standardization (ISO) or Center for Chemical and Process 1 The second image was originally developed by Waltz in Man, the State, and War (1959) in that wars are caused by the domestic fabrication of states. Gourevitch (1978) develops the idea of a second image reversed where war, and more generally international politics, affect the state’s structure. Kasa (2013) uses this second image reversed model to discuss the effects of the international community on determining a state’s climate policies.