Isabell Eberlein is a Master Student in Environmental Policy and Planning at Freie Universität and Technical University of Berlin. Her main research interest is energy policy, climate governance and environmental justice. After she wrote several papers on renewable energy policies, for example in Germany or the MENA region, she shifted her research interest to fossil fuels, mainly coal and shale gas in extractive economies. Hereby Isabell is interested in finance structures of fossil fuel projects and the role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in regard to resistance of coal power plants in India. 

As part of the "FFU/TERI Sustainable Development and Climate Change Dialogue”, she will explore the different stakeholders and actors in the coal debate in India and how they assess the potential of foreign capital in constructing coal power plants. Isabell plans to select case studies among the planned coal power plants in India in order to illustrate concrete examples of finance structure and resistance. Moreover she will perform interviews with policy makers, financial providers, planners, coal companies, environmental NGOs and locals in affected areas to understand the potential of foreign capital in the coal industry in India.