Colombia’s green energy transition – A vicious cycle

Colombia is home to 52 million people and produced around 99.72 million tons of CO2 in 2022, ranking among the biggest emitters in Latin America. Oil taxes, dividends and royalties have accounted for 13% of government revenue over the last ten years, equivalent to one-third of the total value of Colombian exports. The bold action by the Colombian government under the current president Gustavo Petro, with the introduction of the "Colombia, World Power of Life" plan for 2022-2026, aims to pivot away from this dependency. However, this transition is met with scepticism. Industry elites, the business sector, as well as opposition parties, mainstream media and the working-class alike voice concerns over the economic ramifications and the social injustices perceived in the shift away from extractive industries, underscoring a deep-seated fear of jeopardising government revenues and social policies. Communities do not always allow renewable energy (RE) projects on their territories due to insufficient information and a perceived lack of benefits, while the government's failure to address these communication gaps leads to companies disengaging from collaboration. This disengagement, compounded by past failures of companies to deliver planned projects, further perpetuates the cycle of stagnation.

This vicious cycle is especially visible in the coal-rich department La Guajira in the Northeast of Colombia. Many wind projects in La Guajira are planned on recognised Wayuu indigenous territory, which makes up roughly two thirds of the peninsula. Although the Political Constitution upholds indigenous territories as “inalienable, imprescriptible and unseizable”, members of the Wayuu have voiced concerns regarding the lack of transparency, highlighting that community members did not have the necessary information to give their informed consent. In addition, there are concerns regarding the actual amount of jobs in the new green energy sector, and its distribution, which often end up being appropriated exclusively by the authorities or leaders of the territories. This inequity stokes internal conflicts within the communities and fuels mistrust between civil society and the government.

Germany’s “Energiewende” – A promise not yet fulfilled

Let us jump to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to Germany, a country with about 83 million people, that emitted around 671 million tons of CO2 in 2022, almost seven times the emissions of Colombia. Germany's tale of transition, its infamous Energiewende, began as a landmark shift towards RE — and a departure from its coal-dependent past. Unlike Colombia, Germany is not a net coal exporter, but a net coal importer and consumer which presents a major challenge to its phase-out. In 2022, Germany represented 45% of the total brown coal consumption of the EU. Especially Germany’s recent 200% increase of coal imports from Colombia to replace former Russian coal imports, underscores the intertwined destinies of the two nations on the one hand, and a crumbling energy transition in Germany, on the other. What had started as a promising green energy transition plan had to make space for higher priorities arising from the Russian war of aggression. The German public debate on the green transformation is a mosaic of approval and rejection, with the increasing support for the right-wing AfD party reflecting the growing segments of society that are voicing concerns about green policies. In an effort to regain public support for the green energy transition, the current government has developed so-called citizen energy companies. These citizen-led initiatives carry out the planning and approval phase for wind turbines in their own region and are funded by the state. However, it is unclear whether or not this governmental funding programme is bearing its first fruits: while a March 2023 survey of the German population showed strong support for electricity generation from renewable sources, a study just one year later, in March 2024, showed that local resistance to specific projects is on the rise again, a pattern we know from the Colombian case. 

The co-benefits of a green energy transition

The escalating costs of a business-as-usual path, particularly due to environmental degradation and climate impacts, outweigh the short-term economic benefits. The green energy transition can bring additional benefits that go beyond the obvious positive effects of climate change mitigation. A green transition can also create new employment opportunities and promote economic resilience. In the case of RE, the International Renewable Energy Agency reports that in 2021, global employment in the RE sector rose from 12 to 12.7 million jobs, representing a steady increase over the previous year and a projected increase for future years. The International Labour Organization estimates that the move to low-carbon, greener economies has the potential to create 60 million jobs by 2030. It is estimated that RE jobs will increase up to 100,000 by 2030 in the Caribbean and Latin America. Nevertheless, jobs generated in the mainstream renewable energy sector will most likely not reach communities’ territories. Few jobs are required once a wind or solar farm is up and running. 

The current Colombian government has taken a proactive stance by advocating for 'Energy Communities'. These communities aim to generate, commercialise or efficiently use energy through non-conventional renewable energy sources. This initiative can enhance the co-benefits of renewable energy, especially if coordinated with the reindustrialisation policy. By focusing on the local productive uses of energy, RE will power added-value processes in bio and agro-economies, support construction, cottage, and eco-tourism industries, and enhance local research on low-carbon economies driven by enhanced access to electricity and digital technologies, ultimately benefiting communities livelihoods and their resilience to multiple shocks. Having access to jobs and livelihoods, especially for vulnerable youth and women, also translate into peace dividends as it increases resilience against recruitment of armed actors and socio-economic inclusion. However, achieving these co-benefits is not automatic but instead results from coordinated policies and implementation strategies.

Lessons learned: Recommendations for the Colombian and the German government

The challenges of the energy transition in Colombia and Germany are quite different — while Colombia struggles with an economic dependency, the hurdles of a prolonged conflict and social injustice, Germany's difficulties are political and import-related. The early German ‘Energiewende’ in the 1980-90s was highly political and required collective action from farmers with access to capital to invest in RE technologies. The 2000 Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) catalysed the rise of energy communities by introducing a feed-in tariff policy that financially incentivised renewable energy producers, to support and sustain the movement. A key lesson learned from the German energy transition for a country like Colombia, where farmers have less access to capital and the conflict has eroded trust, is that government support and international responsibility are critical to making renewable energy investments peace-positive. 

©Diana Margarita Torres Jimenez

Cocoa agroforestry in buffer zones of the Amazon, an alternative to conserve nature, create livelihoods and build peace

By learning from each other, Colombia and Germany are emphasising the importance of a participatory and socially inclusive approach to the energy transition. The green transition should:

1. Include the experiences and wishes of civil society and vulnerable groups.
   Strengthening community engagement and ensuring transparent decision-making processes are critical for fostering social acceptance and maximising the co-benefits of RE projects. Increasing technical capacities in communities, can potentially balance power dynamics and achieve adequate representation of diverse interests. It is key to create an open and informed space for citizens where they can express themselves, organise and participate in the projects in order to influence decision-making, especially in those regions still dependent on coal or extractive industries. The national and regional governments should act as impartial mediators, building trust through binding dialogues. Furthermore, the complexity of the technical legal procedures for connection and participation in the electricity market should be reduced and regulations that improve the financial conditions to allow more citizens to create energy communities as grassroots citizens' movements need to be created.
2. Adopt an intersectional gender lens.
   Although the green transition aims to drive innovation and structural change towards a greener economy and society, the gains and losses of adaptation are likely to be unequally distributed. In Colombia and Germany, for example, most of the job creation from the green transition is expected in sectors that are currently dominated by men, namely energy and transport, and can therefore reinforce inequality between women and men if the gender perspective is not taken into account. A gender-sensitive approach, such as reducing barriers to educational attainment and investing in registered (pre-)training programmes, can mitigate differentiated inequalities.
3. Enable better communication for establishing partnerships.
   Communication and planning networks between different stakeholders inevitably create trust. They can serve as platforms for the exchange of best practices and experiences between different regions and stakeholders. A platform where activists from the Global North can share their experiences in advocating for a just energy transition, taking into account commodity needs and the impact of EU legislation on national companies in the Global South, can be a starting point. Recognising the importance of civil society will break the vicious circle of mistrust and is crucial for feeding back to academia and governments on how change will work best and how it is perceived on the ground. In addition, the promotion of collaborative models and community-led projects can enable collective investment and risk-sharing between private companies and communities, facilitating the adoption of sustainable practices and technologies that are essential for development. 

As we look to the future, Colombia and Germany are crossing paths towards a just and sustainable energy transition. Promoting participation, transparency and economic diversification, especially for disadvantaged groups, is crucial to this effort. With global demand for coal expected to decline for good by 2026, this is a crucial time to ensure not just a green transition, but a JUST and green transition. By learning from each other's experiences, these two countries can move towards a future where green energy not only powers our homes and industries, but also heals our societies and our planet.