Cop27: A Just Transition Depends on Energy Systems that Work for Everyone

This short-term fix to the energy price crisis created by Russia’s war on Ukraine will lock some of the world’s poorest, most climate-affected countries in polluting fossil fuel projects with few economic or energy benefits for the communities whose land, water and heritage will be sacrificed.

It has been called out as ‘energy colonialism’ – a political-corporate alliance on display at Cop27.

More than 630 industry lobbyists are scattered around the conference centre as deals on climate finance, forests and food systems are being made.

It’s a huge, often insurmountable challenge for grassroots leaders from frontline communities to have their voices heard – let alone offer alternatives to the mostly market-based solutions being pushed.

But the climate justice movement’s message is clear: Community-based renewable projects that work for the people, not corporations, are a necessity, according to Dipti Bhatnagar, from Friends of the Earth International in Mozambique.

“It’s not just about the energy source, it’s about the whole energy system – who decides, who benefits and who profits.”

‘LAND GRABBING’

Across Africa, an estimated 600 million people still lack access to electricity – in large part because most fossil fuel investment is directed toward infrastructure for export rather than downstream power delivery to Africans.

But there’s no guarantee that the transition to solar, wind, hydro and geothermal will be just, warns the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, which tracks abuses and conflicts linked to the green energy sector.

The Lake Turkana wind farm in northern Kenya is built on indigenous territory after 40 000 acres were handed over to a consortium of investors without consulting the indigenous pastoral communities who have lived and farmed sustainably on the land for hundreds – if not thousands – of years.

The wind project, the biggest in Africa, has caused forced migration, conflicts, gender-based violence, water and food insecurity as well as the disruption of cultural and language traditions due to the influx of construction workers.

Farmers have been forced to move further and further away with their goats, cows and camels in search of grazing lands and water, as the region faces the worst drought in decades.

“This is not just transition, this is land grabbing,” said John Tingoi (47) from the Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation (Impact) in northern Kenya.

“If you violate people’s basic rights and the communities have no benefits, it can never be just.”

Between 2015 and 2021, the Resource Centre recorded 369 attacks linked to renewable energy, including the murder of 98 land and environmental defenders. Most were related to dams, but violence and criminal persecution of activists linked to wind, solar and geothermal projects is rising rapidly.

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