Old and new challenges of the energy transition: Insights from South America

ABSTRACT

Whereas in the Global North the energy transition narrative focuses on the idea of ‘global sustainability’, in the Global South it is increasingly connected to old and new challenges that derive from dependence on natural resource extractivism and rentierism. In vast regions of South America, for instance, fossil fuels extractivism and the idea of (post-)development are inextricable. On the one hand, capitalist modernisation, energy security, and even political stability hinge on domestic use of fossil fuels and the rent generated by their exports. On the other hand, the idea of ending extractivism, which is again topical in Latin America, invites policymakers to dream on post-development and the possibility of converging toward the ‘green’ energy transition. This contribution builds on insights from Ecuador and Colombia, as paradigmatic examples, to address the juncture triggered by the energy transition in the Global South.

KEYWORDS:

• Ecuador
• Colombia
• rentier states
• extractivism
• just transition
• climate change
• development studies

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Prof Dr Stefan Peters, Nadia Catalina Combariza Diaz and Julia Schwab for fruitful exchange of ideas and two blind reviewers for bright comments that enriched this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pedro Alarcón

Dr Pedro Alarcón is a postdoctoral researcher at the chair of Peace Studies of the Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen, Germany. He was a fellow of the project Natural Resource Extractivism in Latin America and the Maghreb at the University of Kassel. Dr Alarcón studied energy and environmental sciences and humanities at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the University of Oslo, and the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. He holds a master’s degree in socio-environmental studies and a PhD in development economics from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. His research interests include development theories and alternatives, rentier states and rentier societies, and the relationship between energy, climate change and society.