Energy justice in the Global South

Text: Christina Pfänder

How can we successfully phase out fossil fuels and transform land management in order to protect the climate? The Transnational Centre for Just Transitions in Energy, Climate & Sustainability (TRAJECTS), which the DAAD supports with funding from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office as part of the DAAD’s Global Centres for Climate and Environment funding programme, researches these questions with a global and interdisciplinary network of more than 40 institutions. Juan Pablo Cárdenas did his master’s in energy and development studies at the University of Cape Town, a TRAJECTS partner university, from 2022 to 2023. He focused in his thesis on energy communities in the Global South. “Villa­gers get together and install communal photovoltaic, biomass, solar or wind farms to generate electri­city from renewable sources. In doing so, they create a decentralised and sustainable energy supply solution,” explains the Colombian. His study concentrated particularly on the role of intermediary organisations that serve as the link between local communities, international investors and business. As Cárdenas concludes: “If such organisations sufficiently support the communities in tackling social, legal, technical and financial challenges, it may be possible to achieve a just and rapid energy transition in the Global South.”—