Abstract
Latin America is primed for rapid renewable energy growth. This is not just an expectation of hope given the need for the region and indeed the world to urgently address the red line of climate change and shift towards a net zero energy system in the next few decades. However, Latin America is well-endowed in renewable energy resources, with around a quarter of total primary energy supply from renewables, and rich but heavily dependent on fossil fuels and extractives for energy security and economic development. With the necessity to address climate change, the region needs to diversify its energy mix to promote low carbon options. This chapter introduces Latin America in all its rich diversity before exploring the complex contextual drivers that have led the region’s initiatives to develop and deploy renewable energy to reach a crossroads: how to decarbonise in a way that addresses the drivers of energy security, economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability?
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Notes
- 1.
Geoffrey Wood and Keith Baker, The Palgrave Handbook of Managing Fossil Fuels and Energy Transitions (Palgrave Macmillan 2019).
- 2.
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Energy Market Analysis: Latin America https://www.irena.org/publications/2016/Nov/Renewable-Energy-Market-Analysis-Latin-America.
- 3.
Bruna Alves, ‘Renewable Energy in Latin America—Statistics and Facts’ (Statistica, 5 July 2021) https://www.statista.com/topics/5318/renewable-energy-in-latin-america/.
- 4.
Izei Atxalandabaso, ‘Renewable Energy in Latin America: 5 Renewable Energy Trends Emerging from South of Rio Grande’ (Rated Power, 16 April 2021) https://ratedpower.com/blog/renewable-energy-latin-america/.
- 5.
Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), Renewables 2020: Global Status Report https://www.ren21.net/gsr-2020/.
- 6.
IRENA (n 2).
- 7.
REN21 (n 5).
- 8.
Notably, both renewable energy and fossil fuel sources (petroleum and gas) exist as natural resources available in the region. See: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean: A Graphic View—August 2018 https://www.cepal.org/en/publications/43889-economics-climate-change-latin-america-and-caribbean-graphic-view.
- 9.
Ibid.
- 10.
Without precluding the development needs for many countries, it is worth noting that ‘although fossil fuels have powered the industrialization of many nations and improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people, another century dominated by fossil fuels would be disastrous’, see Geoffrey Wood, Fossil Fuels in a Carbon-Constrained World, in Geoffrey Wood and Keith Baker (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Managing Fossil Fuels and Energy Transitions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 3.
- 11.
National Geographic, ‘South America: Human Geography’ (National Geographic, n.d) https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/south-america-human-geography/.
- 12.
Jessica Carey-Webb, Latin America’s Biodiversity is Critical for Global Goals (NRDC, 22 May 2020) https://www.nrdc.org/experts/jessica-carey-webb/lets-protect-latin-americas-biodiversity.
- 13.
Latin America refers to those countries where Romance languages such as Spanish, French and Portuguese are predominantly spoken. As such, it differs from the more commonly used geographical terms such of North America, Central America and South America (although it contains parts of all including the Caribbean). Originating in 1856, the term is broader than other commonly used terms such as Hispanic America and Ibero-America.
- 14.
The World Bank, World Development Indicators http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/3.1.
- 15.
Wikipedia, ‘Latin America’ (Wikipedia, n.d). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America.
- 16.
Center for International Education, Focus on Latin America: Geography and Culture https://www.berea.edu/cie/focus-latin-america/.
- 17.
This is approximately the same proportion (70%) as found for the EU in 2019, and not far off the global average. See: Europa, Energy statistics—an overview (Europa, May 2021) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Energy_statistics_-_an_overview.
- 18.
IRENA (n 2).
- 19.
J. William Carpenter, ‘The Biggest Oil Producers in Latin America’ (Investopedia, 5 December 2019) https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/101315/biggest-oil-producers-latin-america.asp.
- 20.
Bruna Alves, ‘Leading Countries in Proved Crude Oil Reserves in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021’ (Statistica, June 2021) https://www.statista.com/statistics/961596/latin-america-crude-oil-reserves-country/.
- 21.
International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), Oil & Gas Production in Central and South America: Investment Needed to Meet Rising Regional Demand https://www.iogp.org/bookstore/product/global-energy-brief-latin-america/.
- 22.
IRENA (n 2).
- 23.
The countries in brackets represent the regional leaders in the respective renewable energy sources, but all nations are deploying or making efforts to develop and deploy various renewable energy sources.
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
World Smart Cities Forum, ‘5 Places Running on 100% Renewable Energy’ (World Smart Cities Forum, 2020). https://worldsmartcities.org/5-places-running-on-100-renewable-energy/.
- 26.
REN21 (n 5).
- 27.
Maeve Campbell, ‘Which Country Is the World Leader in Renewable Energy in 2021’ (Euronews, 16 August 2021). https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/08/02/which-country-is-the-world-leader-in-renewable-energy-in-2021.
- 28.
Ryan C. Berg and T. Andrew Sady-Kennedy, ‘South America’s Lithium Triangle: Opportunities for the Biden Administration (Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 17 August 2021). https://www.csis.org/analysis/south-americas-lithium-triangle-opportunities-biden-administration.
- 29.
IRENA (n 2).
- 30.
Geoffrey Wood and Stephen Dow, ‘What Lessons Have Been Learned in Reforming the Renewables Obligation? An Analysis of Internal and External Failures in UK Renewable Energy Policy’ [2011] 39 Energy Policy 39(5) 2228.
- 31.
IRENA (n 2) 3.
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Wood, G. (2022). Latin America: Renewables at the Crossroads of Multiple Drivers. In: Wood, G., Neira-Castro, J.F. (eds) From Fossil Fuels to Low Carbon Energy Transition. Energy, Climate and the Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-00299-1_1
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