Energy transition: Challenges and limits of climate governance: Challenges and limits of climate governance

Abstract

The article develops the concept of energy transition from the perspective of Latin American socio-environmental justice, which articulates race, gender, environment, and climate as interconnected facets of the same problem. The topic addressed stems from the negotiations on the moratorium on the use of fossil fuels, as raised during the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30), to analyze the elements that make up the concept of energy transition in the current authoritarian geopolitical scenario. Its overall objective is to assess what the concept of energy transition should consist of. Our methodology consists of a literature review and consultation of secondary materials. In the literature review, we considered the approaches of environmental justice (Acselrad) and the Capitalocene (Moore). The steps towards a change in the fossil fuel matrix must be taken without deepening social inequalities, harming the environment, or exacerbating the harmful effects of global warming on communities already affected. From the perspective of socio-environmental justice, the energy transition should reinforce the responsibility of states in leading the transformation, with effective ways of holding companies accountable for socio-environmental damage and recognizing the historical struggles of peoples for life, guaranteeing these groups a prominent position in the debates as human rights defenders and social agents of effective social transformation.