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

Abstract

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 of wind and solar mega-projects at both national and regional scales. Our project consists of a series of databases and maps aimed to “fill” the spaces and relations otherwise “emptied” by the state's cartographic tools designed to promote investments in the sector. When presenting our results, we highlight how renewable energy projects in Mexico have so far juxtaposed with local territories, peoples, and resources, in ways that trigger instances of environmental injustice on the ground. We close this article by discussing the role of critical cartography and countermapping in building alternative political–economic projects for the energy transition.

Solidaric solarities: Governance principles for transforming solar power relations

“…This is especially so when accounting for associated factors like trade, with China the global manufacturing hub for solar PV modules. Space and the ways in which territories are opened up for solar development can promote socio-technical transformation, but equally reproduce business-as-usual geographical and geopolitical power constellations (Avila et al 2022).…”

“…The global imperative to implement large-scale solar infrastructures to swiftly mitigate the climate crisis has led to a 'global land rush' (Scheidel and Sorman 2012), often exacerbating land-use conflicts by 'green grabbing' productive spaces for marginalised producers (Avila et al 2022;EJAtlas 2019;Franco and Borras 2019). Acquiring space for utility-scale solar projects has often entailed the dispossession of land from marginalised farmers (Bedi 2019;Stock and Birkenholtz 2021;Yenneti, Day and Golubchikov 2016).…”

University Community Engagement with Participatory Mapping and Community Geography

“…The work of radical urban geographer William Bunge challenging the inequality and exploitation in Detroit exemplifies a longstanding concern in geography with the direct experiential knowledge in research and the social responsibility of academic researchers (Bunge, 2011). Bunge's legacy of urban expedition in Detroit has been continued while not that prevalent yet in urban poverty and counter-mapping study of developed and developing countries (Yapa, 2009;Avila et al, 2021).…”

“…Environmental justice is a widely acknowledged field in the community mapping both in developed and developing countries (Haklay and Francis, 2018;Avila et al, 2021). Environmental justice discourse has diverse themes and issues, and many of its everyday (Sieber, 2006;Kyem, 2021).…”

Wind Energy and the Energy Transition: Challenges and Opportunities for Mexico

“…Although renewable technologies infrastructure still requires fossil fuels, life cycle greenhouse gas emissions are significantly lower for technologies powered by renewable resources than those powered by non-renewable ones [10]. Renewable energy corporations have been criticized for perpetuating social injustices [11] or using vast land extensions for energy production. However, when comparing normalized land use for both renewable and conventional energy sources, it has been found that some types of renewables, like PV, actually use the least amount of land [12].…”