Energy Justice, Indigenous People, and Benefit-Sharing: Evidence from Southern Mexico

Citation

Velasco-Herrejon P & Savaresi A (2022) Energy Justice, Indigenous People, and Benefit-Sharing: Evidence from Southern Mexico. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Social License to Operate and Energy Transitions. Palgrave Studies in Energy Transitions. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74725-1_8-1

Abstract
This chapter looks at the practice of benefit-sharing in wind energy projects in Indigenous peoples’ lands in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. The aim is to gauge how the procedural, distributive, and recognition justice associated with the development of renewable energy generation capacity have been addressed, the challenges experienced, and the solutions that may be adopted to address these. The chapter is organized as follows. After an introduction setting out the research questions, context, and background of the chapter, part two unpacks the justice questions associated with benefit-sharing in the context of renewable energy generation. Part three looks at how these questions have been addressed in practice in the context of renewable energy projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Part four reflects on what our case study has revealed about the use of benefit-sharing as a means to engender energy justice.

Keywords
Benefit-sharing; Energy justice; Indigenous people; Renewable energy; Wind energy; Mexico

People

Professor Annalisa Savaresi

Professor, Law