Limpo por acidente : uma análise institucional da formação do setor elétrico no Brasil

Abstract

The percentage share of renewable sources in the Brazilian electric matrix allows presenting this sector as one of the cleanest in the world. The government points out that currently the expansion of generation occurs on a trajectory compatible with the other global trends of the energy transition. Upon a more detailed observation, however, it is found that not even in the periods when the environmental issue became more prevailing; the energy policy was influenced in a determining way by issues of environmental sustainability. This contradiction guided the scope of this research, which was to understand the intersection between environmental policy and energy policy with the Brazilian electric sector as a case study, from its origin to the present day, focusing on the concepts of control that explain the government decisions, according to a view that considers the environment not only as a way to keep a healthy ecosystem, but also the State's capacity to make the best usage of the natural resources available. To this end, a theoretical framework was elaborated inspired by the New Institutional Theory and, in particular, Fligstein's approach (1990) to the concepts of control and path dependence. As a result, it was found that between 1880 and 1929 an oligopolistic logic prevailed in the sector and that the liberal ideas contributed to the absence of the State in the administration of the use of natural resources. Between 1930 and 1963, a concept of statist control was established, which spawned a government-centered management of the exploitation of water and forest resources. Between 1964 and 1989, this world perspective acted synergistically with a concept of geopolitical control that enabled the start of the regulation of environmental impacts caused by the electricity sector. In the 1990s, however, the latter was overcome by a concept of financial control that introduced as model of management the view that environmental regulation would be an obstacle to the expansion of the SEB. In the “Lulista” (as in “Lula”, ex-president of Brazil) period, between 2003 and 2018, a concept of slightly climatic and strongly neo-developmental control prevailed and to face the environmental issues was considered an obstacle to the country's economic growth. Between 2019 and april/2021, a weakly liberal conception of control in the electricity sector channeled efforts so that negationism was present in the treatment of environmental issues. The historical panorama of this research (1880 to 2021) demonstrated the existence of conflicts, overlaps and synergies between different conceptions of control over time. This sequence of events revealed that there was no establishment of environmental and climate urgency as a central element of thought and social action in SEB planning, that is, the institutional arrangements established blocked the strengthening of the environmental agenda as a pillar in the development of the Brazilian electricity sector. Keywords: Conception of control. Path dependence. Brazilian electricity sector. Environmental policy. Energy policy.