This book presents valuable insights, critiques and contributions from energy researchers focused on Latin American case studies. Their work not only enriches the understanding of energy justice but also addresses a significant gap in the current academic literature.
Since it was coined as an academic term more than ten years ago, energy justice has experienced accelerated growth as a relevant and widely recognised concept that allows energy researchers to engage with diverse energy issues. Nevertheless, energy justice still faces theoretical and empirical gaps, including a lack of diversity in author demographics and case studies coming from regions in the Global South. Against this backdrop, this book brings together 30 authors whose research draws from Latin American countries like Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Peru, as well as wider regional perspectives. The selected case studies combine low‑carbon transitions, regulations and technologies with issues of gender, indigeneity, (neo)colonialism, autonomy, poverty and inequality. Importantly, the chapters examine how energy justice might influence existing approaches and worldviews on sustainability, which strive for just and clean future energy systems by redressing regional inequalities and tackling the global challenge of climate change. As such, Energy Justice in Latin America opens new spaces for a growing research community to redefine and jointly construct a more complete, regionally specific notion of energy justice.
Highlighting the ways in which the discussion included in this book resonates with other regions in the Global South, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy justice, energy poverty, energy democracy and energy policy, as well as Latin American studies more broadly.
Edited by:
Adolfo Mejía-Montero
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032795317
ISBN 10: 103279531X
Series: Routledge Explorations in Energy Studies
Pages: 322
Publication Date: 18 February 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
INTRODUCTION Chapter 1. Energy justice in Latin America: Exploring a growing agenda Adolfo Mejía-Montero PART I Regional reflections on energy justice across Latin America Chapter 2. Political Economy and Energy Justice: Rentier Dynamics in Fossil Extractivist States in Latin America Rosa Lehmann and Pedro Alarcón Chapter 3. Conflicts linked to critical minerals and renewables in South America ― The hydropower and copper cases through the energy justice lens Axel Bastián Poque González Chapter 4. Searching for ‘indigenous’ energy justice: Case studies of Costa Rica’s El Diquís and Panama’s Barro Blanco hydroelectric projects Nora Hampl Chapter 5. Bioethical Aspects Related to Energy Poverty in Latin America: An Energy Justice Approach Carlos Díaz-Rodríguez Chapter 6. Wind turbine blades: An emerging energy justice agenda in Latin America. Eduardo Martínez-Mendoza, Eduardo Fernández-Echeverría, Gregorio Fernández-Lambert, Marieli Lavoignet-Ruíz and Luis Enrique García-Santamaría PART II Lessons and experiences of low-carbon transitions and energy justice within national borders Chapter 7. The Chilean Energy Transition through Energy Justice as a Policy Assessment Approach Nicolás Silva Valenzuela Chapter 8. Wind Farms Impacts and Energy Justice Relationships: The Case of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico Eduardo Martínez-Mendoza and Luis Arturo Rivas-Tovar Chapter 9. Exploring Bolivia’s lithium ambition through an expanded energy justice lens Romain Mauger and Paola Villavicencio-Calzadilla Chapter 10. Astronomy and Energy Justice in the Atacama Desert Paola Velasco Herrejón, Isabelle Viole, Guillermo Valenzuela-Venegas, Sabrina Sartori, Marianne Zeyringer. PART II Criticizing and expanding energy justice grounded on a Latin American perspective Chapter 11. Constructing a regulatory framework for energy justice? Evidence from Ecuador Mendieta-Vicuña, Diana and Esparcia, Javier Chapter 12. How do you live and adapt to energy insecurity? Gianna Monteiro Farias Simões and Solange Maria Leder Chapter 13. Towards energy justice in Argentina. Learning from inclusion experiences. Alejandra Ise, Silvina Carrizo, Luciana Clementi1 and Marie Forget Chapter 14. Struggles for Pluriversal Fairness: Decolonizing energy justice through autonomous praxis in Mexico Carlos Tornel Chapter 15. Beyond Inclusion: Advocating for a Feminist Understanding of Energy Justice Lillian Sol Cueva CONCLUSION Chapter 16. Powering Energy Justice in Latin America Adolfo Mejía-Montero Index
Adolfo Mejía-Montero is a lecturer in Energy, Society, and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh, where he is part of the School of Social and Political Science’s Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies (STIS). He also serves as the director of the MSc programme in Energy, Society, and Sustainability within the School of Geosciences. With an interdisciplinary background in physics, engineering, and human geography, Adolfo has contributed to a wide range of research projects focused on energy justice, low‑carbon energy projects in indigenous territories, wind and solar power, mixed‑methods research, and sustainable energy systems, particularly in Latin America and the United Kingdom.
