Energy resources play a fundamental role in economic development and poverty reduction. In most Southern countries, the challenge rests on the capacity to providing a reliable supply with respect to necessities – especially at the industrial level – while ensuring access to modern energy services for the entire population. This challenge has also to take into account long term environmental concerns, particularly those linked to climate change, although actions are going to take place in an uncertain context. Are big metropolises in emerging countries taking into account the energy challenge? This project analyses the transformations of energy systems in the economies with strong economic growth perspectives and increased energy consumption, by investigating the progressive isolation of metropolitan areas within the energy governance systems. The project explores the resulting transformations with respect to the equilibriums amongst mobilized resources (hydrocarbons, hydroelectricity, renewable energies, etc.) to the current concerns linked to a post-carbon economy, to the evolution of consumption volumes and practices. Furthermore, it aims at comparing the bulk of these transformations with the dominant models of “energy transitions”. This proposal focuses on several metropolitan regions (Durban, The Cape, Mumbai and Sao Paulo) of 3 emerging countries with intermediate revenues (Brazil, India and South Africa) and on the analysis of the changes in the energy policies and systems with respect to the urban services for residential, industrial and commercial uses (with the exclusion of transports).

Funding sources

- French National Agency for Research

Institutional partnerships

- Centre de Recherche et de Documentation de l’Amérique Latine (UMR CNRS 7227)

- Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (UMR CNRS8134)