Chapter 16 - Integrating social and justice dimensions to energy transitions: the case of Mexico

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate how a specific, yet highly contested, socio-technical imaginary (STI) was inserted in the predominant energy future of the energy transition in Mexico. By using a framework of STIs and analyzing the regulatory framework that now shapes and structures the energy transition in Mexico, this chapter shows how the energy sector, its prospective, and the laws and regulations set in place to address its development are deeply intertwined with national politics, STIs, future narratives, and social and individual decisions that constantly shape energy systems. This chapter argues that, despite a relatively rapid transition toward the use of renewable energy technologies at the global level, the framing of the energy transitions process in Mexico has been constantly rendered into a technical–managerial, engineering problem, thus presenting the process as a mere substitution of technologies, without taking into account the social, spatial, and structural characteristics that shape energy systems. This chapter argues that a more democratic future of the energy sector is warranted, one in which the concept of energy justice is placed at the center of the social–technical planning and design of energy systems.