Sofía Avila

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Ambiental, Department Member

Followers

130

Following

Co-authors

Public Views

Researcher in Political Ecology and Ecological Economics at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona. Currently working within the Environmental Justice Project, focusing on the social and biophysical dimensions of renewable energy production. Member of the Advisory Board of the Mesoamerican Society of Ecological Economics.
Investigadora en Ecología Política y Economía Ecología, dentro del Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Ambiental de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Actualmente trabaja como dentro del proyecto Environmental Justice, analizando las dimensiones sociales y biofísicas de las energías renovables. Miembro de la Junta Directiva de la Sociedad Mesoamericana de Economía Ecológica.
Address: Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

less

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Sofía Avila

Debates sobre la transición justa en México. Desarrollo, demandas obreras y ambientalismo popular

Sociedad y ambiente, Apr 12, 2024

La noción de &quot;transición justa&quot; se ha ido construyendo como una serie de demand... more La noción de &quot;transición justa&quot; se ha ido construyendo como una serie de demandas de organizaciones obreras y ambientales frente a los planes de transición energética, particularmente en el Norte Global. Ello ha conllevado a un creciente interés por el término desde actores diversos, así como a una notable disputa sobre sus sentidos políticos y estratégicos. El presente artículo propone ampliar el lente que predomina en la literatura sobre la &quot;transición justa&quot; para privilegiar las condiciones y debates que se gestan en la región latinoamericana. En particular, se propone explorar cómo las tensiones estructurales entre desarrollo, matriz extractiva y justicia ambiental que son propias de la región, se reproducen o resuelven frente al imperativo de la transición energética justa. Tomando a México como caso de estudio, el artículo revisa los debates en torno a la política energética del gobierno de la &quot;Cuarta Transformación&quot; (4T) en el gobierno de AMLO, caracterizada por un viraje antineoliberal y una ambiciosa estrategia para reestructurar el sistema eléctrico nacional. Bajo este análisis, se argumenta la progresiva construcción de dos sentidos para la &quot;transición justa&quot; en México, en los cuales sindicatos y movimientos del ambientalismo popular articulan planteamientos conceptuales y programáticos diferenciados. Se concluye sugiriendo rutas de investigación-acción para favorecer sinergias obreras y ambiental-populares frente al declive y salida del modelo energético fósil.

Solar Capitalism: accumulation strategies and socio-ecological futures

Sustainability Science, 2025

This overview article proposes the concept of Solar Capitalism to contribute to the emerging poli... more This overview article proposes the concept of Solar Capitalism to contribute to the emerging political economies and ecolo- gies of energy transition. Solar Capitalism is here defined as the diverse set of accumulation strategies responding to the combined challenge of climate change and the progressive decline of fossil fuels globally: a process that implies shifts in the reliance of stock to flows forms of energy; from high to low energy capacities; and from abundant to relatively scarce natural resources and services. What differentiates Solar Capitalism from other solar economies (either historical forms or potential future forms) is the attempt to reproduce and expand circuits of capital accumulation under contemporary biophysi- cal conditions, forcing the spatiotemporal profile of flow and common resources to work in terms of stock and enclosable energy resources. In the making of these shifts, Solar Capitalism pushes for the appropriation of “cheap” nature and labor, setting the stage for renewed forms of exploitation over peripheral geographies, communities, and species. As argued, solar capitalist frontiers are produced over land, minerals, and precarious labor, raising urgent questions for debates on just transi- tions and alternative solar futures.

Solar Capitalism: accumulation strategies and socio-ecological futures

Sustainability Science, 2025

This overview article proposes the concept of Solar Capitalism to contribute to the emerging poli... more This overview article proposes the concept of Solar Capitalism to contribute to the emerging political economies and ecologies of energy transition. Solar Capitalism is here defined as the diverse set of accumulation strategies responding to the combined challenge of climate change and the progressive decline of fossil fuels globally: a process that implies shifts in the reliance of stock to flows forms of energy; from high to low energy capacities; and from abundant to relatively scarce natural resources and services. What differentiates Solar Capitalism from other solar economies (either historical forms or potential future forms) is the attempt to reproduce and expand circuits of capital accumulation under contemporary biophysical conditions, forcing the spatiotemporal profile of flow and common resources to work in terms of stock and enclosable energy resources. In the making of these shifts, Solar Capitalism pushes for the appropriation of "cheap" nature and labor, setting the stage for renewed forms of exploitation over peripheral geographies, communities, and species. As argued, solar capitalist frontiers are produced over land, minerals, and precarious labor, raising urgent questions for debates on just transitions and alternative solar futures.

Download

Debates sobre la transición justa en México. Desarrollo, demandas obreras y ambientalismo popular Debates About the Just Transition in Mexico. Development, Workers Demands and Popular Environmentalism

Revista Sociedad y Ambiente, 2024

La noción de "transición justa" se ha ido construyendo como una serie de demandas de organizacion... more La noción de "transición justa" se ha ido construyendo como una serie de demandas de organizaciones obreras y ambientales frente a los planes de transición energética, particularmente en el Norte Global. Ello ha conllevado a un creciente interés por el término desde actores diversos, así como a una notable disputa sobre sus sentidos políticos y estratégicos. El presente artículo propone ampliar el lente que predomina en la literatura sobre la "transición justa" para privilegiar las condiciones y debates que se gestan en la región latinoamericana. En particular, se propone explorar cómo las tensiones estructurales entre desarrollo, matriz extractiva y justicia ambiental que son propias de la región, se reproducen o resuelven frente al imperativo de la transición energética justa. Tomando a México como caso de estudio, el artículo revisa los debates en torno a la política energética del gobierno de la "Cuarta Transformación" (4T) en el gobierno de AMLO, caracterizada por un viraje antineoliberal y una ambiciosa estrategia para reestructurar el sistema eléctrico nacional. Bajo este análisis, se argumenta la progresiva construcción de dos sentidos para la "transición justa" en México, en los cuales sindicatos y movimientos del ambientalismo popular articulan planteamientos conceptuales y programáticos diferenciados. Se concluye sugiriendo rutas de investigación-acción para favorecer sinergias obreras y ambiental-populares frente al declive y salida del modelo energético fósil.

Download

Seis ejes ecológico-políticos en torno a la transición energética

Revista Ecología Política, 2023

Este artículo propone seis ejes ecológico-políticos en torno a la transición energética (TE), ent... more Este artículo propone seis ejes ecológico-políticos en torno a la transición energética (TE), entendida como un horizonte de cambio socioambiental que se disputa en el contexto de la crisis climática y el progresivo declive de las reservas fósiles a nivel mundial. Siguiendo la tradición analítica de la ecología política, estos ejes proponen un doble movimiento. Por un lado, identificar las estructuras político-económicas que actualmente articulan los discursos y estrategias dominantes en torno a la TE. Por el otro, trazar los impactos de tal modelo, así como lo procesos sociales de resistencia, disenso y construcción de futuros socioecológicos alternativos. Tomando la región latinoamericana como reflejo de estas tendencias, el artículo agrupa críticas al paradigma de la modernización ecológica y las correlativas estrategias para reformar los sistemas energéticos moderno-capitalistas. Se señala el carácter apolítico de esas apuestas, y se visibilizan procesos que politizan la cuestión climático-energética, insertándola en un marco de transformaciones socioecológicas más amplias.

Download

Challenges and ideas of representations of the Anthropocene in Latin American and Caribbean media

Routledge eBooks, Nov 22, 2020

Contesting energy transitions: wind power and conflicts in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

Journal of Political Ecology, Sep 27, 2017

This article studies the expansion of large-scale wind energy projects in the Isthmus of Tehuante... more This article studies the expansion of large-scale wind energy projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Mexico) and local socio-environmental conflicts that have emerged in response. It explores how the neoliberal agenda in Mexico is shaping a specific way of implementing wind energy projects, and how this is leading to local resistance and production of alternatives. The article is based on a historical analysis reconstructing the main features of wind power development and pathways of struggle. By following a political ecology perspective, wind energy is seen as embedded in a wider frame of power relations and the uneven patterns of the Mexican economy. Struggles of indigenous groups are thus analyzed as the expression of peripheral communities against the enclosure of communal lands, the private appropriation of benefits and the lack of democratic procedures involved in these projects. The discussion emphasizes the role of communal identities and institutions in building successful networks, while introducing new concepts (energy sovereignty) and alternative schemes in wind power production (cooperatives). The overall approach of the article is that any move towards a different energy system should be politically encouraged by social and cultural means, rather than mainly economically motivated.

Download

Critical Mapping for Researching and Acting Upon Environmental Conflicts – The Case of the EJAtlas

Studies in Ecological Economics

In this chapter, we revise the trajectory and relevance of the Global Atlas of Environmental Just... more In this chapter, we revise the trajectory and relevance of the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas) as one of the main research projects and outcomes of the Barcelona Research Group in Environmental Justice Studies and Political Ecology. We first trace the origins, scope, and methodology of the EJAtlas as a unique participatory mapping project that is both global in scope and informed by the co-production of knowledge between academia and groups seeking environmental justice. We then highlight how the work of the EJAtlas reflects and contributes to a larger trend in the field of Environmental Justice that looks to integrate critical cartography and mapping practices into both research and activist efforts. Looking ahead, we reflect on the limits and unresolved challenges of the platform, as well as on the innovative uses of the tool for advancing a spatial, comparative, and statistical political ecology.

Download

Face à la croissance verte

Multitudes, 2019

Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour Association Multitudes.

Download

Renewables Grabbing

Routledge eBooks, Jun 2, 2023

Download

Mining coal while digging for justice: Investigating justice claims against a coal-phase out in five countries

The Extractive Industries and Society

Coal has long been one of the fossil fuels underpinning the energy systems of many countries arou... more Coal has long been one of the fossil fuels underpinning the energy systems of many countries around the world. Because of its long-standing history, many actors have an interest in retaining the status quo. In this article, we explore the complexities of a coal phase-out in different countries. Drawing on empirical material from Germany, India, Mexico, Serbia and South Africa, we look at the way coal is represented in public debate. We do so by analysing the respective political arguments of key actors about coal phase-out in the chosen countries and analyse their inherent justice claims. Our research illustrates how state institutions, fossil fuel companies and other actors have contributed to framing coal as a formative factor of social relations and as an asset for development. Further, we find that there is considerable overlap of justice claims between global North and global South countries, even though actors from global South countries also invoke global inequalities and historical climate debt. Based on our results, we argue that policymakers must (a) critically interrogate justice claims and (b) consider injustices created by the status quo to ensure a Just Transition.

Frente al crecimiento verde. Visiones de “lo común” desde el Colectivo Timbaktu (Andhra Pradesh, India)

El presente articulo analiza como el aprovechamiento de las energias renovables en la India esta ... more El presente articulo analiza como el aprovechamiento de las energias renovables en la India esta cambiando (o manteniendo) el modelo de crecimiento y desarrollo desigual que la ha caracterizado como “economia emergente”. En concreto, contrastamos dos procesos que se desarrollan en Anantapuramu, un distrito rural marcado por altos indices de pobreza y vulnerabilidad climatica. Por un lado, analizamos la progresiva expansion de mega-infraestructuras de energia eolica como detonante de una transformacion regional a favor de la “industrializacion verde”. Por el otro, nos centramos en el trabajo y la resistencia del Colectivo Timbaktu, una organizacion de base que trabaja en la regeneracion de tierras comunales “improductivas”, promueve la gestion colectiva de recursos y fortalece relaciones de cooperacion dentro de las comunidades locales. Bajo esta perspectiva de contraste, buscamos hacer visibles diferentes maneras de entender la sustentabilidad, asi como sus implicaciones politicas e...

Movements shaping climate futures: A systematic mapping of protests against fossil fuel and low-carbon energy projects

Environmental Research Letters, 2020

Ecological economics and degrowth: Proposing a future research agenda from the margins

Ecological Economics, 2020

Research by ecological economists on degrowth is a flourishing field. Existing research has focus... more Research by ecological economists on degrowth is a flourishing field. Existing research has focused on limits to (green) growth and on economic alternatives for prospering without growth. Future research, we argue here, should pay more attention to, and be written, from the "margins"that is from the point of view of those marginalized in the growth economy. We conduct a comprehensive systematic review of the prevalent themes in the existing literature on the ecological economics of degrowth, and its engagements with North-South relations and gender issues. The analysis identifies seven research areas where ecological economics can better integrate these matters, namely: the study of post-growth policies for the Global South; the unequal exchanges that sustain an imperial mode of living; the deconstruction of ecological economic concepts that reproduce problematic Western or gendered assumptions; the study of the clash of metabolisms in peripheries of the Global South; the metabolism of care-work in growth economies; the leading role of women in ecological distribution conflicts, and the reproduction of gender inequalities in alternative post-growth spaces. We propose that ecological economics should welcome more contributions from critical feminist scholarship and scholars from the Global South.

Download

The Role of Ecological Economics in Latin American Public Policy: Latin American Consensus at the ISEE Washington Meeting

Ecological Economics, 2017

Download

Environmental justice and the expanding geography of wind power conflicts

Sustainability Science, 2018

Wind power is expanding globally. Simultaneously, a growing number of conflicts against large-sca... more Wind power is expanding globally. Simultaneously, a growing number of conflicts against large-scale wind farms are emerging in multiple locations around the world. As these processes occur, new questions arise on how electricity from wind is being generated, how such energy is flowing within societies, and how these production-flows are being shaped by specific power structures. The present paper explores the expanding geography of wind energy conflicts by analyzing 20 case-studies from across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. Based on the Environmental Justice Atlas database, it reflects on how land pressures and patterns of uneven development emerge as two features of the current expansion of wind farms. Following a relational analysis, these patterns are examined to interpret the plural instances of opposition emerging throughout the rural spaces of the world. The article argues that previously unexplored forms of collective action are expanding This is a post-print version. For printed version click here

Download

(Counter)mapping renewables: Space, justice, and politics of wind and solar power in Mexico

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

The ongoing expansion of renewable energies entails major spatial reconfigurations with social, e... more The ongoing expansion of renewable energies entails major spatial reconfigurations with social, environmental, and political dimensions. These emerging geographies are, however, in the process of taking shape, as their early configurations are still open to democratic intervention and contestation. While a recent line of research highlights the prominent role that maps are playing in directing such processes, the potential effects of countermapping on these evolving geographies have not yet been explored. In this article, we present a countermapping initiative promoting a dialogue between critical geography, political ecology, and environmental justice. Our work is the result of an alliance between Geocomunes—a collective of activist cartographers based in Mexico—and the EjAtlas—a global collaborative project tracking cases of grassroots mobilizations against environmental injustices. We take the case of Mexico's low-carbon development strategy to dissect the spatial expansion o...

Environmental conflicts and defenders: A global overview

Global Environmental Change, 2020

Recent research and policies recognize the importance of environmental defenders for global susta... more Recent research and policies recognize the importance of environmental defenders for global sustainability and emphasize their need for protection against violence and repression. However, effective support may benefit from a more systematic understanding of the underlying environmental conflicts, as well as from better knowledge on the factors that enable environmental defenders to mobilize successfully. We have created the global Environmental Justice Atlas to address this knowledge gap. Here we present a large-n analysis of 2743 cases that sheds light on the characteristics of environmental conflicts and the environmental defenders involved, as well as on successful mobilization strategies. We find that bottom-up mobilizations for more sustainable and socially just uses of the environment occur worldwide across all income groups, testifying to the global existence of various forms of grassroots environmentalism as a promising force for sustainability. Environmental defenders are frequently members of vulnerable groups who employ largely non-violent protest forms. In 11% of cases globally, they contributed to halt environmentally destructive and socially conflictive projects, defending the environment and livelihoods. Combining strategies of preventive mobilization, protest diversification and litigation can increase this success rate significantly to up to 27%. However, defenders face globally also high rates of criminalization (20% of cases), physical violence (18%), and assassinations (13%), which significantly increase when Indigenous people are involved. Our results call for targeted actions to enhance the conditions enabling successful mobilizations, and for specific support for Indigenous environmental defenders.

Download

Movements shaping climate futures: A systematic mapping of protests against fossil fuel and low-carbon energy projects

by Leah Temper, Sofía Avila, Brototi Roy, and Arnim Scheidel

Environmental Research Letters, 2020

In this article we undertake a systematic mapping of 649 cases of resistance movements to both fo... more In this article we undertake a systematic mapping of 649 cases of resistance movements to both fossil fuel (FF) and low carbon energy (LCE) projects, providing the most comprehensive overview of such place-based energy-related mobilizations to date. We find that (1) Place-based resistance movements are succeeding in curbing both fossil-fuel and low-carbon energy projects. Over a quarter of projects encountering social resistance have been cancelled, suspended or delayed. (2) The evidence highlights that low carbon, renewable energy and mitigation projects are as conflictive as FF projects, and that both disproportionately impact vulnerable groups such as rural communities and Indigenous peoples. Amongst LCE projects, hydropower was found to have the highest number of conflicts with concerns over social and environmental damages. (3) Repression and violence against protesters and land defenders was rife in almost all activities, with 10% of all cases analysed involving assassination of activists. Violence was particularly common in relation to hydropower, biomass, pipelines and coal extraction. Wind, solar and other renewables were the least conflictive and entailed lower levels of repression than other projects. The results caution that decarbonization of the economy is by no means inherently environmentally innocuous or socially inclusive. We find that conflicts and collective action are driven by multiple concerns through which community mobilization seeks to reshape the energy regime and its impacts. These include claims for localization, democratic participation, shorter energy chains, anti-racism, climate-justice-focused governance, and Indigenous leadership. Climate and energy policymakers need to pay closer attention to the demands and preferences of these collective movements pointing to transformative pathways to decarbonization.

$capita, as defined by the World Bank) was as fol- lows: High income (n = 119), Upper Middle Income (n = 217), Lower middle (n = 240) and Low income (n = 78). Whereas both FF and LCE had from 65%-70% of their cases in middle income countries, FF cases occurred more in high income countries (24.3%), and a higher proportion of the LCE cases were located in low income countries (16.5%), with only 10% in high income countries (See graph 3). This is firstly attributed to a boom in dam con- struction, nuclear and carbon offset programs in the Global South due to more existing installed capacity in the North. Proponents’ rationale for carbon off- sets is that paying for greenhouse reductions else- where is cheaper and easier than domestic reductions. Yet activists, NGOs and academics have decried off- sets as ‘carbon colonialism’ (Bumpus and Liverman 2011), pointing to controversial local impacts and dubious claims regarding mitigation and additional- ity. Our findings support caution about displacement of the social and environmental costs of decarboniz- ation from North to South and towards the peripher- ies of industrialized countries. Improved regulatory regimes and more secure land tenure in developed economies are another reason for the reduced con- flictivity of LCE projects in higher income coun- tries, as land grabbing and displacement is a prime driver of conflict in these projects in low income countries. Warner 2001);* we observe no significant difference in intensity between the two categories (30.3% of FF are high intensity and 26% of LCE are high intensity). Activities with higher intensity conflicts include nuc- lear, pipelines, fracking, coal extraction and power plants and hydropower. Oil and gas extraction and refining and biomass conflicts had lower levels of intensity. Wind, solar and other renewables had the lowest level of intensity.$

Download

Movements shaping climate futures: A systematic mapping of protests against fossil fuel and low-carbon energy projects

by Daniela Del Bene and Sofía Avila

Download

Sofía Avila

Uploads

Papers by Sofía Avila

Log In