A just energy transition places climate justice at the core of the move away from fossil fuels. This means considering the impact of transitions on different people, recognizing the diversity within populations and communities, and not reinforcing existing injustices. Impacts of green transition projects might be different depending on how different forms of social identity such as race, ethnicity or citizenship status, gender, religion, class, and sexuality interact and result in unique experiences, needs and forms of oppression (Hill Collins and Bilge 2020).

When Indigenous populations are affected, such considerations are especially important because they risk falling prey to assumptions that they are homogeneous. It is especially important to challenge this misconception now that the race for critical minerals is at full speed, and 54% of the projects extracting them are on Indigenous lands. This is very pronounced in Latin America, which is home to between 42 and 53 million Indigenous people and significant reserves of raw materials of interest for the energy transition. We examined what research has to say about the impacts of renewable energy projects on different members of Indigenous communities in Latin America.

Gaps in understanding impacts on different groups within Indigenous communities

To date, research has paid scant attention to compounded disadvantages faced by different people within Indigenous populations. We found that out of 56 academic papers on the impacts of green energy projects on Indigenous populations in Latin America, less than half (21) evaluated multiple social factors. The focus was generally limited to one variable – usually gender or presumed status within the Indigenous group (e.g. roles as environmental defenders or recognized land ownership). None of the studies referred to class, or genders other than women and men, and none mentioned the role of (dis)abilities.

This demonstrates an urgent need to acknowledge the differentiated impacts of energy transition projects, including the role of social factors and how they intersect within Indigenous populations. Based on our review of the research, we summarize how the impacts of green energy projects are experienced differently according to people’s roles – chiefly gender, land ownership and being an environmental defender.

Gender

Decision-making spaces developed as part of green projects, such as electrification committees, are expected to involve both Indigenous women and men. This involvement should also be meaningful, guided by the aim to understand the differentiated impacts of energy transitions.

Far too often, however, women’s involvement is reduced to a box-ticking exercise. For example, a Maya woman in Yucatán, Mexico, mentions consultations on gender rights for a solar project in her community were done only to comply with government requirements and no specific meetings with women were organized to understand their views on how to improve their conditions.

Gender inequalities in Indigenous populations are also often overlooked. In some groups men belong to the social sphere, and cultural norms place women in charge of care work within the home. Therefore, while in general Indigenous Peoples often have limited opportunity to participate in decision-making when it comes to green transitions, the Indigenous women’s capacity to participate in community-level decision-making is further limited as compared to men.

In addition, men are usually allocated most of the temporary jobs offered by energy projects, resulting in an increase of care work for women and less time for social activities, personal care, or rest . This deepens gender inequality and makes it even more difficult for women – who already have less access to land, capital and other resources – to cope with the energy transition process.

Environmental defenders

Environmental defenders are those who promote human rights related to environment, water, air, and land. It is a well-known fact that, especially in Latin America, Indigenous leaders who oppose the development of green energy projects have suffered violence, including physical aggression, harassment, defamation, illegal deprivation of liberty, and even assassinations.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, 35 attacks against Indigenous leaders opposed to wind-energy investments were reported between July 2015 and July 2016, including one assassination reported in 2013 and another in 2016 .

In Colombia, two Embera Katío leaders opposing the Urrá Dam, and the forced displacement of their communities away from their most productive areas, were murdered without further legal investigation or consequences.

Sometimes, these violent acts towards Indigenous leaders have led to the cancellation of energy projects. This was the case of the murder of Berta Cáceres in Honduras, who was opposed to the 21.5 Megawatt Agua Zarca hydroelectric power project, and whose death resulted in the withdrawal of the main investors from the project.

The role of Indigenous environmental defenders is legitimate because they voice the opinions of their communities. Governments and investors should acknowledge the risk of violence to Indigenous leaders, protect them and include their voices in the transition processes because they are crucial to ensure just energy transitions and robust due diligence.

Land ownership

In Latin America, Indigenous Peoples generally share communal land but, less commonly, private ownership also exists. In such cases, those who can sell or lease land have been benefitted individually. While sharing benefits with Indigenous populations is often welcome, sometimes allocating benefits privately rather than collectively may result in divisions that could undermine the long-term interests of communities.

In Mexico, wind power companies have leased privately owned land from Indigenous groups. This practice has not only excluded the majority of the community, but also unevenly distributed the benefits, as landowners receive additional income by selling or leasing the land, and control employment and other benefits of the projects, generating tensions and resentment.

Way forward

We can already see from existing evidence how including only two social factors beyond Indigeneity – gender and status – can lead to different outcomes for different groups within Indigenous communities. Considering that Indigenous populations in Latin America already have less access to education, employment and financial services compared to non-Indigenous people in the region, it is crucial to ensure that existing social inequalities are not perpetuated or that new inequalities are not created in the name of a green transition. More research is needed on differentiated needs and impacts in just transitions, and uptake of this research should be a required part of new energy projects.