Newton Fund: Links 2015 - Linkages between energy, food and water consumption for Brazil in the context of climate change mitigation strategies

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Newton Fund
Newton Fund
Newton Fund
Newton Fund
Newton Fund

£231,860

Jan. 1, 2015

April 27, 2016

The collaborative research project combines the qualitative and quantitative research capabilities of the University of Cambridge, the Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, and the Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo to analyse the linkages between energy, food and water consumption for Brazil, in the context of climate change mitigation strategies.

This project concerns developing a mid- to long-term research programme for the study of technically and legally feasible configurations of the Brazilian energy and agriculture sector in close collaboration between the UK and Brazilian partners. This project will revolve around the use of the technology and decision diffusion model methodology Future Technology Transformations (FTT), under development in Cambridge by a team of 4 researchers led Dr. J.-F. Mercure, along with the global macroeconometric model E3ME (www.e3me.com). This capacity will be linked to an internationally leading research team headed by Prof. Vinuales on political and legal analysis of energy and sustainable development policy. Among subjects of interest will be freshwater and land use changes in relation to the energy and agricultural sectors, using both the FTT modules for the energy and agricultural sectors (FTT:Power, FTT:Agriculture). The targeted analysis will include local and international food demand, trade, as well as changes in employment generated by the development of low-carbon innovations and the diffusion of new technology in both the energy and agriculture sectors. While FTT is operated by the University of Cambridge, E3ME is maintained, operated and developed by Cambridge Econometrics Ltd, who will be in charge of training the Brazilian researchers in the use of the platform E3ME-FTT.

Through detailed analysis of the legal and governance contexts and their cross-sectoral impacts, the project will examine actual and prospective mitigation policies for Brazil, facilitated through close collaboration with local experts, most notably from the PUC-SP, with insights into the local challenges and opportunities. The active collaboration and the development of local analysis capabilities will provide support for capacity-building and knowledge-sharing. Enhanced understanding of the interactions between environmental and societal actions in analysed policies for Brazil could strengthen the generic basis for integration of climate action in the broader development agenda of the country.

A significant part of this networking project aims at building new research capacity, through the exchange of computational tools and training, to researchers from Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina and Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo, who are actively involved in engaging local policy-makers. They will learn how to use the computational platforms E3ME-FTT developed in Cambridge to study specific locally relevant issues of energy, food and water linkages for Brazil, and help devise insight relevant for policy-making. Meanwhile, the Brazilian partners will provide invaluable contextual knowledge on locally relevant issues such that the research has relevance for policy-making, which could impact livelihoods in rural areas and low-income communities.

The activities of this networking project can be divided into six main categories:
(1.) Coordination Meetings (2.) International Conference (3.) Training (4.) Publications (5.) Network (6.) Public Awareness
The expected result of this networking project is to design a strong and coherent consortium of researchers covering all relevant aspects of the Energy-Water-Food nexus in the context of climate change mitigation policy in Brazil: sustainable development (economics, energy, agriculture) modelling and case studies, environmental policy and law, and a strong connection to networks in Brazil in order to ensure sustained impact.

Potential Impact:
The activities of this networking project will be divided into six main categories, of which the contribution to impact is summarised as follows:

(1.) Coordination Meetings: Three meetings will be held between the participating universities to monitor the progression of project objectives, one in Brazil and two in Cambridge. For one of the meetings in Cambridge, policy makers from the EU related to Brazil will be invited to participate, in order to use their expertise as a valuable input for the project, as well as to maximise the impact of it, providing policy relevant outcome. For the meeting in Brazil, several authorities, policy makers and key decision-makers from the private sector will be invited to participate as well. This will serve as a backbone to the project's intended extensive networking and link-building activities across the range of existing and potential stakeholders.

(2.) International Conference: An additional international conference will be organised by the University of Cambridge, the Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina and the PUC-SP with the main objective of discussing about the current situation in Brazil regarding energy, food and water usage, availability and linkages. The conference will take place in Brazil and it be divided in the following areas:
- Theme 1: Brazil and its current energy, food and water use and availability.
- Theme 2: Technological change of the Brazilian energy sector, and its impact on land use changes, food, water and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Theme 3: Policy responses to energy, food and water conflicting demand.
- Theme 4: Engagement with policymakers to ensure policy relevance in Brazil.
Key decision-makers and academics working on these areas will be invited to participate in the conference. Important links are expected to be developed, with the purpose of creating a long-term network between the research centres in the UK and Brazil and local policy-makers.

(3.) Training: The University of Cambridge in partnership with Cambridge Econometrics will train the Brazilian researchers in the use of the modelling platform E3ME-FTT. This will result in sustained built analytical capacity that, with the help of the network built during the project, will enable to analyse complex environmental policy issues in Brazil beyond the end of this project's duration.

(4.) Publications: Following the international conference and the meetings, a set of publications will be presented to disseminate and promote the knowledge and information related to climate change mitigation strategies and sustainable management of energy, food and water in Brazil analysed in this project.

(5.) Network: The collaboration between Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, the PUC-SP and the University of Cambridge established with this project will enable a research network to be formed. This will involve Brazilian researchers going to Cambridge to study the modelling platforms and methods, and, vice versa, Cambridge researchers going to Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo to study the implementation of renewable energies systems and energy efficiency projects in rural areas focus on the promotion of regional and rural development.

(6.) Public Awareness: In order to increase the awareness about the importance of the efficient use of energy, food and water resources, multimedia content will be produced and distributed. The target audience for this information will be policy makers, local authorities, universities and public schools.