Alternative pathways for green hydrogen economy: the case of Colombia

ABSTRACT

With the escalating urgency of addressing climate change and the surge of a pro-environmental discourse during the last three to four decades, the international imperative of low-carbon societies voiced in the Paris Agreement and reiterated in the parties’ conferences call for ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems’ has gained traction. However, it remains unclear to what extent this imperative addresses the entrenched extractivist and rentier practices that underpin today's carbon-intensive economy. This article turns the case of green hydrogen, often hailed as the fuel of the future, to discern whether current actions are enabling a ‘just transition’ towards the same mode of natural resource exploitation, or one that seeks to overcome the extractivist and rentier dynamics. Taking a case study of Colombia, where debates surrounding hydrogen development swirl around what could be seen as a continuity of extractivism and a more reindustrialization-oriented trajectory, this study examines some of the possible conditions that just transitions would have to comply with if they are to overcome both fossil fuel dependence and the politico-economic behaviours that have turned swathes of Global South countries into natural resource repositories.

KEYWORDS:

• Colombia
• energy transition
• extractivism
• green hydrogen
• just transition
• rentier societies

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Stefan Peters, Julia Schwab, Felipe Corral and the team behind the Colombia Think Tank POLEN Transiciones Justas for their comments on early versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study were published by the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy and are available in the Systematization of National Dialogues at https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMDhlYWZhOGItODllNS00MzdhLWEzNjctYWYxYTAxNzg5YTcyIiwidCI6ImQ4MjYzNmJlLTZkZDItNGU2NC1hMjg0LTdhMzQwMmYyNGUyNyJ9

Notes

1 The last commodity-dependence report (UNCTAD, 2023, p. 100) showed that Colombia relied on commodities for 78.6% of exports in the 2019–2021 period, mainly oil and coal.

2 See for example Infante-Amate et al. (2020, p. 191) on the biophysical dimensions of extractivism in Latin America

3 Cp. Petro’s National Development Plan (DNP, 2023a, p. 147)

4 An executive prerogative that puts legislative initiatives on top of the agenda and reduces the number of ballots needed to pass a law, hence expediting its process.

5 The constitutional court rejected the suit, however, this case shows disagreement with the way this law was approved.

6 Public service contracts in Colombia can be viewed at https://colombiacompra.gov.co/secop-ii.

Additional information

Funding

Part of this research was supported by the projects ‘Social Climate Change Impacts and Sustainability Innovations in Southern Africa and Northern South America’ (NISANSA), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) [project number 62000991], and ‘SDG Nexus Network’, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) [grant number 57526248]. The paper expresses the views of the author and not of the organisations with which she is affiliated.

Notes on contributors

Nadia Catalina Combariza Diaz

Nadia Catalina Combariza Diaz is a doctoral student at the Peace Building Chair, University of Giessen, Germany, researching just transitions and post-extractivism in the Global South. She is also co-founder and co-executive director of POLEN Transiciones Justas, a Colombian think tank shaping energy policies for just transitions.