Governance in energy democracy for Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and opportunities for partnerships at the I
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Governance in energy democracy for Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and opportunities for partnerships at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Jacobo Ramirez Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC), Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Frederiksberg, Denmark Correspondence: J Ramirez, Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC), Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Frederiksberg, Denmark e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract This study provides a public policy framework for the governance of energy democracy toward meeting the United Nation’s SDGs, and proposes guidelines for policymakers on designing partnerships that promote renewable energy. An increasing number of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and public organizations are prioritizing energy democracy and decarbonization strategies by investing in renewable energy. However, I argue that energy democracy is not ‘‘just’’ about opening up the energy sector to large-scale renewable energy investments. I explore the challenges facing the implementation of energy democracy through a qualitative study conducted from 2013 to 2020 of wind-energy investments at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. A key challenge preventing energy democracy and renewable energy partnerships with indigenous communities at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the lack of good governance – corruption, poor accountability, and limited access to information about energy and the environment. Wind-energy investments implemented under the understanding of Partnerships for the Goals may offer sustainable alternatives for reaching the goal of Energy for All and mitigating climate change according to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Journal of International Business Policy (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-020-00077-3 Keywords: sustainable development goals (SDGs); wind energy; communities; partnerships; governance; energy democracy
Received: 30 May 2019 Revised: 5 September 2020 Accepted: 15 September 2020
INTRODUCTION Energy democracy and decarbonization strategies are becoming a priority for an increasing number of governments in the effort to reach clean-energy commitments such as the Paris Agreement and Goal 7 (‘‘Energy for All’’) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Baker, 2018; Mey & Diesendorf, 2018; United Nations, 2015a, b, 2016a; van Tulder, 2018). However, different actors – policymakers, multinational enterprises (MNEs), and communities
Governance in energy democracy for SDGs
– have different understandings and views of what is required to reach the SDGs (Avila, 2018; McDermott et al., 2019). In their rush to reach cleanenergy commitments, many governments in emerging markets have introduced a discourse of energy ‘‘democratization’’ by encouraging international business investments (Presidencia de la Repu´blica, 2012) without integrating local communities’ demands (Velasco-Herrejon & Bauwens, 2020). While this has increased the generation of renewable energy (RE), a lack of partnerships, lack of rule of law, and lack of clear political will
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