Making Colombia’s energy transition a just one for all: 4 lessons from the Governance Action Hub

The Governance Action Hub aims to convene and put local change agents in the driver’s seat to analyze local challenges, co-create solutions and take action collectively. In March 2024, our team traveled to Colombia — one of the countries where we are assessing if and how we can add value to existing local action to improve governance reform — to explore the potential for systems change in pursuit of a Just Energy Transition (JET), a complex issue.

We started our journey in Colombia full of expectations and preconceptions about the country’s Just Energy Transition process. Energy systems have different histories as well as collections of interests that sustain them. If you are interested in change, it’s important to understand the power, capabilities and interests that determine how actors within the current system behave. We first did a thorough political economy analysis of the energy sector, mapping more than 50 actors who maintain this system and illustrating how recent changes in policy and incentives might play out.

But nothing beats talking to the protagonists themselves: those whose lives are touched by their access to energy, its reliability and its affordability. On our visit we met with many mayors, solar energy business groups, local community groups, national civil society groups and former combatants trying to re-integrate into society in seven locations across Colombia.

The experience challenged our ideas about the energy transition and what is needed to put justice at its center. Since the 1990s, Colombia’s energy system has been an efficient one from the perspective of urban areas. But what we heard is that the system was not built for equitable access and too many people are being left behind. The obstacles, including inaccessible pricing, poor quality and outright lack of access, resonated loud and clear. And the stories we heard revealed that a Just Energy Transition is not simply about shifting to renewable energies to fight climate change; it’s about shifting to a system that helps everyone live fuller lives.

Here are four takeaways summarizing the voices we heard, followed by our reflections on the way forward.

1. There are many different takes on what ‘justice’ means and what needs to be done to achieve it

Conversations around the Just Energy Transition are tense in regions dependent on exploitation of fossil fuels. These regions are grappling with environmental damage and social distrust, and now the loss of jobs and economic opportunities looms large. The populations of these regions need alternatives and justice through labor conversion and new opportunities. When we visited communities that are not producers of fossil fuel-based energy, we learned that this is only part of the story of Colombia’s energy transition.

Depending on people’s history, identities and immediate needs, justice may mean accessing basic social and economic rights, dealing with historic conflicts and their consequences, finding ways to support excluded youth and creating new opportunities for future generations, fueled by renewable energies. A Just Energy Transition needs to recognize and address the energy needs of every one of these people in their specific contexts.

2. Livelihoods are at stake, and not only in mining regions

Citizens’ quality of life needs to be at the center of any just transition. In the places we visited in Colombia’s mining corridor, we met a cooperative of former mining employees and heard how they are determined to shift their mindsets, build new skills and create new opportunities to sustain their families through new employment opportunities in the green energy sector. Many of their skills from working in the mining sector translate well to the green energy sector, and with the support of the community-focused Universidad del Magdalena and its partners, they are now proud graduates of a diploma program in Green Energy.

Under the government’s new program that will create a network of alternative energy communities, the cooperative is well placed to become an ally to support local communities in installing and maintaining new forms of energy. But not everybody is lucky enough to have empathetic and competent partners to help them transition. There are horrific stories of companies extracting everything they could only to leave in the middle of the night with little concern for their host communities.

Outside the oil regions, the tariff structure in Colombia has many families, even those who live on the sun-rich Caribbean coast, weighing whether they should spend money putting food on the table or paying down their energy bill.

Renewable energies have the potential to reduce the burden of energy costs on vulnerable people, which would allow them to exercise their basic rights and pursue productive activities. Democratizing the production of energy is not only good sustainable business practice, it is also a way to address poverty traps and unlock local productive potential.

3. Political will provides the space for JET, but efforts from everyone are needed at different levels to make long-term systems change a reality

The strong political leadership at the national and local levels is impressive. Leaders with a bold vision — and budgetary commitments to support them — exist throughout the country. But our conversations made it clear that while their leadership is a necessary condition, it is not sufficient. Other allies working in a joint approach are urgently needed to turn these visions into reality.

Shifting entrenched systems, with incentives that work for some but not others, is not for the faint-hearted. If Colombia is to develop an effective energy system for all, these leaders require:

• New resources and capacity to support pilots at scale
• Leadership from the private sector, recognizing the future potential of the new sector, and
• A network of support, learning, and evidence to ensure that the just energy transition quickly becomes a sustainable reality with little risk of rollback.

Colombia has the potential to be a global leader in energy transition. This is impressive given that it is not a major carbon producer globally and already has a comparatively clean energy matrix. Its leadership on the global stage has been bold, with important commitments to reduce its carbon emissions and reduce the production of fossil fuels. For the country to deliver on these goals and provide a practical example to the world, urgent and coordinated international support is needed.

4. Clean energies do not equate to clean practices. Risks for state capture and corruption persist

The process of diversifying a country’s energy matrix and increasing the salience of renewable energies often comes with a perception that those entering the generation of clean energy are inherently good — they have ethical mindsets and responsible practices distinguishing them from their predecessors in the extractives sector. The reality at the local level, however, is that new sources of energy could result in old wolves in new clothes. Often those with the capital and contacts needed to invest in big renewable energy projects are those that have dominated the extractive and energy sectors for years. They carry the same mindsets, same principles, and the same goals.

And even with new actors, how will the lessons of Colombia’s often inadequate participatory processes around investments in fossil fuels become part of a new social DNA? A switch to clean energy does not automatically change the mindset of those handling social and environmental requirements at the local level. Moreover, there are legacies of community veto and distrust to overcome. Keeping these lessons present and acknowledging history will be critical as the transition moves forward.

While all eyes are on the transition in energy, the country’s political culture remains the same – a competitive clientelistic system with high levels of centralization. The incentives to use public resources for political gain are real, often by cutting corners on public investments and denying citizens the services they deserve and pay for through taxes. Energy is changing but the broader system remains the same. We need to operate with our eyes wide open.

Insights for supporting JET and climate action in Colombia

• The national vision and next steps need to be better communicated throughout the country. All actors having access to shared information around the incentives, new roles and responsibilities and the process is critical if new practices and behaviors are to emerge. The demand for change is clear and citizens across the country are ready to play their part. Coordinating this across a large, diverse system will require competent conveners with proactive and crystal clear communication.
• The alternative energy communities have the potential to bring better and more affordable energy to many while also shifting governance practices locally. For this, new practices of inclusive governance will be needed. One size will not work for all; models will need to be tailored to community needs. But practicing new forms of collaboration and partnership will generate new trust and social capital that can be leveraged for decades to come well beyond the energy sector.
• A concerted effort needs to be made to bring the private sector to the table. There is clearly interest from investors, social responsibility, and productive associations. But they require clarity on the process, the potential benefits and the incentives to engage. We are not there yet.
• Last but not least, strong learning systems are needed to provide solutions at scale in a timely manner. Progressing one pilot at a time in isolation is not efficient and will not get us closer to the country’s ambitious goal. We need to balance tailored local support with ambition and scale.

We returned from the visit with many questions, a lot of homework and many more conversations to have in Colombia and beyond. We are immensely grateful for all the insights and hospitality received. Please reach out at govactionhub@r4d.org if you want to join us as we move from reflection and listening to acting thoughtfully. These are exciting times, and Colombia is poised to turn the energy transition into a reality with its people at the center.