Tag Archive for: Energy transition

Communities and civil society advocate to influence the BID meeting in Chile

At the BID’s 2025 Annual Meetings in Chile, organizations and communities affected by projects financed by the institution are demanding greater transparency, participation, and respect for human rights and the environment, in response to the impacts of megaprojects in the region.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Chile is hosting the sixty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest. The event began on March 20 in Punta Arenas, Magallanes, as part of the Investment Forum and the meeting of authorities, and continues in Santiago until March 30. It brings together the Ministers of Economy, Treasury, and Finance of the Bank’s 48 member countries, who define the main financing policies and strategies for the region.

In this context, communities affected by IDB-financed projects and civil society organizations are organizing to present our demands and highlight the resistance to the development model promoted by the institution.

The main demands include:

  • Full and understandable access to information about projects and their impacts
  • Effective participation of affected communities in decision-making
  • Protection of human rights and nature defenders to avoid retaliation
  • Financing aligned with climate justice and human rights
  • Guaranteeing the prevention, mitigation, and reparation of harm caused by their investments, through policies or frameworks for remediation and responsible exit

For years, resistance networks have denounced the harmful effects of projects financed by the BID and other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). Wind farms, lithium and copper mines, and mega-infrastructure projects have transformed ecosystems and ways of life without consultation or consent from affected communities. In Punta Arenas, the site of pre-Annual Meetings activities, opposition is growing to green hydrogen mega-projects, promoted without real public debate or consideration of Indigenous and local rights.

The BID Working Group, a network of civil society organizations of which we are a part, has been key in opening up advocacy spaces within the Annual Meetings. Thanks to their pressure, the Bank committed to reintroducing civil society participation in 2023, having eliminated it in 2013. The 2025 edition in Chile is a crucial opportunity to strengthen coordination among affected communities and reinforce advocacy strategies to challenge the BID’s role in the region.

The Voice of Communities and Organizations

  • On a Just Energy Transition and the Protection of Indigenous Peoples and the Environment:

“They need to study the places where they promote projects and who lives there. They should take the time to understand local customs and ways of life. It is not right for them to arrive in a place and disrupt communities that are used to living in peace, caring for and protecting nature and biodiversity.” — Spokesperson for the Chango People, Antofagasta (requested anonymity)

  • On the IDB’s Access to Information Policy:

“The BID must ensure effective and timely access to information about the projects it finances so that affected communities and populations can fully understand the status of a given project and participate in decision-making in an informed manner.” — Gonzalo Roza, Coordinator of the Global Governance Area, FUNDEPS (Argentina)

  • On the Protection of Civic Space:

“Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have a responsibility to respect human rights in their operations and to use their influence to ensure that their clients—governments and companies—create and maintain an enabling and safe environment for the exercise and defense of those rights. The BID Group must guarantee the effective implementation of its policies and improve its practices to fulfill this responsibility, ensuring they are systematically enforced.” — Suhayla Bazbaz, Director, Community Cohesion and Social Innovation–CCIS (Mexico)

  • On Remedy and Responsible Exit:

“Repairing the harm caused by the projects it finances must be a priority for the BID Group. It is time for the Bank to be at the forefront of best practices and policies, following the example of other development banks. The International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank) has already published its Responsible Exit Principles and is about to approve the Remedy Framework—two instruments aimed at preventing, mitigating, and repairing the harm caused by its investments. Like any financial institution, the IDB has the responsibility to remedy the harm inflicted on communities and the planet.” — Luisa Gómez, Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law–CIEL (United States)

 

Agenda for Resistance and Advocacy in Chile

Civil society organizations and affected communities have outlined an action plan that includes:

  • Workshops and meetings in Santiago and Punta Arenas with local organizations, affected communities, and strategic allies to analyze the IDB’s impact on the energy transition and development financing.

  • A public discussion on the role of development banks in a just energy transition, as well as Chile’s case in the green hydrogen and mining industries.

  • Advocacy activities during the Annual Meetings aimed at creating spaces for dialogue with BID representatives and other key stakeholders.

  • Engagement with local and international networks to strengthen resistance strategies and globally highlight the impacts of projects promoted by the Bank.

The fight of communities against extractivist projects promoted by the BID is not new, but in a context where financing for strategic sectors such as energy and mining is expanding, amplifying our voices and demanding a just energy transition is more urgent than ever—one that prioritizes community rights and territorial protection.

Contact
Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org

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Necessary debates: Fundeps held a discussion on the Energy Transition in Argentina

The event organized by Fundeps (Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies), CAUCE Foundation (Environmental Culture – Ecological Cause), FARN (Environment and Natural Resources Foundation) and Siglo 21 University, held on November 11, was a meeting of analysis and debate on the main challenges facing Argentina in the context of the global energy transition.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The event, which was held in a discussion format, was organized into thematic panels, one of which was: “The role of China, multilateral banking and transnational corporations in the Argentine energy transition” with the participation of Dr. Virginia Busilli and Lic. Maitén Fuma (UCC), Valeria Enderle (CAUCE Foundation), Francisco Zanichelli (UNC) and Carolina Juaneda (Bank Information Center), moderated by Matías Cena Trebucq (FARN). The second panel, “The challenges of lithium exploitation in Argentina in a context of investment incentives and environmental deregulation”, was hosted by Edgardo Litvinoff (Red RUIDO), María Laura Carrizo Morales (Fundeps), Leandro Gómez (FARN), Federico Trebucq (UES21, CONICET), moderated by Paula Hernández (Fundeps).

On this occasion, Fundeps also presented the report “The exploitation of lithium in the high Andean salt flats: a socio-environmental analysis based on the Argentine case”, which aims to comprehensively address the different conceptual, legislative and discursive perspectives and components that intervene in this context of global energy transition. It also addresses the consequent acceleration in the demand for lithium in our country and region for an informed discussion.

Not every energy transition is a fair energy transition

The race to control the supply chain of so-called critical minerals, or minerals for the energy transition, opens a new chapter in the global geopolitical dispute. Countries in North America, Europe, and Asia, particularly China, are competing not only to dominate the technologies of the final products, but also for access to the deposits of these minerals. At the same time, it is evident that the search for developing “green solutions” is the politically correct narrative today, but is there really progress towards a fair energy transition in social and environmental terms? What roles do the global south and the global north adopt in this new “green” dynamic? What place do communities have in this process? These were some of the questions addressed in the discussion.

Argentina is today the world’s fourth largest producer of lithium and has approximately 50 projects in different phases. With the focus on generating foreign currency required to repay the external debt, provincial and national governments prioritize these investments without carrying out the corresponding studies to determine whether the operations can be carried out without causing irreversible damage to the environment and the communities that have lived there for hundreds of years. The loss of biodiversity, ways of life, knowledge and Andean cultures not only turns these territories into sacrifice zones for the hyper-consumerist model of the Global North, which does not seek to reduce its demand for minerals and nature, but also reinforces existing inequalities and blocks the possibility of thinking about a paradigm shift that places the care of the lives of people and ecosystems at the center, and that teaches us to live within planetary limits.

Undoubtedly, the consequences of the increased demand for lithium extraction and production in this “green race” generate debates of a social, environmental, legal, discursive and ideological nature, as the different meanings and objectives of the different actors involved come into dispute. During the more than two hours that the discussion lasted, experts and representatives of civil society, academia and journalists from Córdoba and other provinces debated and exchanged their opinions on the impact of lithium mining on the environment, the economy and local communities, making it clear that not every energy transition is a fair energy transition and that the extractivist logic reproduces the historical roles of the countries of the Global North and South and also replicates extractivist practices and human rights violations of local and indigenous communities, while reinforcing the vicious cycle of continuing to exploit nature.

 

More Information

 

Contact

Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org

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Lithium and Transparency in Argentina

Throughout this report we will discuss, first of all, a series of data on the current situation of Argentina in relation to lithium production that places it in a central role within the world concert. Then we will focus on the mining governance system, stating the laws that configure it, its main elements and those points that merit further analysis. Subsequently, we will address, from some indicators suggested by the Standard, the two projects that are in the lithium production stage in Argentina: the Fénix Project in the Hombre Muerto salt flat and Sales de Jujuy in the Olaroz-Cauchari salt flat. In particular, regarding whether or not to publicize their contracts, as a fundamental link in terms of publicity and transparency in the development of these projects.

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