Embedding the energy transition in the Global South: an institutional challenge for donor-driven interventions

Decades of research have brought a rich body of literature on the challenges and opportunities to promote energy transitions in the Global South. Scholars have engaged with the adoption of policy mechanisms like feed-in tariffs, investigated the implementation of technological innovations such as solar power, and formulated critiques towards development cooperation that failed to deliver sustainable and long-lasting clean energy interventions. Yet, the literature says little about the nexus between donor interventions, subnational political frameworks, and social contexts in which these projects are embedded. Therefore, we turn our attention to the embeddedness of donor-driven interventions through the lens of political institutionalization. Our contribution is twofold: (1) Conceptually, we propose and apply a framework to unpack the potentials and pitfalls for development cooperation to promote and sustain climate mitigation institutions in the Global South. To do so, we marry earlier research dealing with donor-driven energy transitions in the Global South with conceptual reflections on complex policy arrangements and political institutionalization in environmental politics. (2) Empirically, we adapt this literature to the context of donor-driven solar power interventions in India and Indonesia. Through a small-n qualitative approach, we present and discuss various solar power projects as illustrative cases for the success and failure to institutionalize these efforts. To sustain effects beyond initial donor support, any project intervention from abroad needs to trigger and support the development of context-specific and embedded climate institutions. The sociopolitical embeddedness of climate mitigation efforts depends on changes at three levels which we will investigate here. They need to tackle, reform, and trigger shifts related to existing (1) policies (in terms of implementation, integration, and instruments), (2) power relations (in terms of responsibilities, organizational structures, and resources), and (3) discourses (in terms of norms, ideas, and perceptions). Based on qualitative insights from solar power projects in India and Indonesia, we explore, trace, and critically reflect on how donors tackle these dimensions. Recognizing the micro-macro paradox in development cooperation, we focus on subnational jurisdictions which we consider crucial in connecting national policy frameworks with local contexts and conditions. Successful institutionalization at the subnational level can function as a testing ground for alternatives to the status quo in terms of political reforms and innovations towards low carbon development. Subnational contexts thus provide useful microcosms for experimentation and learning. We conclude that any (technical) development cooperation aiming to promote climate mitigation efforts beyond the donor-funded project phase needs to consider subnational political contexts and circumstances more seriously to institutionalize changes towards clean energy systems.