En­ergy Trans­ition for Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment in Lat­in Amer­ica

Course content

Many Latin America countries conventionally rely on hydropower and fossil fuels to produce energy. Considering climate change and international agreements such as the Paris agreement, the governments of several such countries are seeking to diversify their energy matrices by incorporating more renewable or green energy from nonconventional sources, including wind (onshore and offshore), solar, biomass and waste, tidal and geothermal. This is known as energy transition or diversification.

To expedite the energy transition, the governments of several Latin America countries have revised their energy policy. Energy policy deals with how a country generates, stores, converts, transports, and distributes energy. However, policies for energy diversification also affect energy supply and demand and may introduce trade-offs with development and environmental goals and therefore with the achievement of international policies such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Because the design and implementation of energy policies are critically influenced by factors including the legal system, governmental will for public good, the national economy, and sociocultural aspects of energy sources and use, there is a risk that accelerating an energy transition may contribute to exacerbate the problems of inequality and of fair access to energy, resources, and societal wellbeing that are common to this region.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) can play a key role in supporting the design and implementation of energy policies for energy transition. In this respect, there are several approaches that aim to provide more sustainable long-term energy solutions in emerging markets by rethinking end-user access and supply. These include bottom-up approaches, collaborative agreements, and the integration of civil society into decision-making processes.

In this course, some of the strategies developed by MNEs and public organizations will be discussed in relation to energy policy in Latin America countries. The theoretical areas covered by the course are, therefore, energy planning and policy, institutional theory, energy democracy, energy justice, environmental justice, energy poverty and governance.