National Interest Groups and Transnational Governance: Brazilian Sugarcane Producers and Biofuel Standards

Abstract

How does the Brazilian sugarcane sector act towards transnational private governance initiatives on biofuels? Brazil is one of the world’s largest biofuel producers, and since the 1970s sugarcane ethanol production has expanded with the help of the federal government. The developed nations' rising demands for higher social and environmental standards have fostered the emergence of new governance mechanisms that affect biofuel-producing countries, which in turn have started to engage in private initiatives to regulate their economic activities through transnational certificates. This article aims to analyse the strategic interaction amongst Brazilian actors involved in biofuel production. Our goal is to explain: a) what are the conditions that have based the agents' ability to act in the international arena, and b) how they have influenced the international standards for biofuels. Building upon Buthe e Mattli's (2011) Institutional Complementarity Theory, as well as Caffagi e Pistor's (2013) normative concept of regulatory capability, we argue that a trend of geographical and economic concentration and homogeneity in Brazilian sugarcane production helped to create the conditions for Brazilian producers to adhere and influence the standards of Bonsucro (the most important private international regulation for sugarcane ethanol). Then, we suggest paths for further research on that issue, so that we can confirm these claims.