BUILDING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES By Paulina Calfucoy A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Development Studies) at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 2015 Abstract: The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze different strategies pursued by developing countries to strengthen institutional capacities for sustainability and climate change policies. Throughout the chapters, I analyze sustainability and energy policies for the ethanol industry and national efforts to build institutional capacity for climate change policy. Each case analysis focuses on different experiences in separate countries. The first chapter explores the Brazilian pathway to increase sustainability standards in the biofuel industry with the aim of understanding the role played by international standards and domestic policies to foster more sustainable practices by the private sector. In the conclusion, I argue that international standards played a significant role linked to market opportunities, becoming a driving force to link sustainability and competitiveness policies in development countries, but it requires an important effort from domestic policies to facilitate private upgrade toward more sustainable practices. The second chapter, “Making Ethanol an International Commodity: Challenges for the Brazilian State”, analyzes Brazil’s challenges and difficulties in making ethanol an international commodity as part of its agro-energy agenda. The chapter describes the complexities in building a global market, emphasizing the institutional and political dimensions of the market formation process from the standpoint of a developing country. The conclusions discuss the definition and limits to state capacities in open economies, analyzing the difficulties in governing the domestic market, and in building governance structures at the international level, together with the demand building processes, given changing standards and requirements at international markets . The third chapter, “Strengthening institutional capacity for climate change policy in Chile”, analyzes Chile’s efforts to build evidence about its contribution to climate change and to define its mitigation policies. Specifically, I discuss the process of co-production of evidence for capacity-building, and show the usefulness of a participatory process, facilitating the development of a community of practice on climate change policies including people from the public, private and academic realm.