Increasingly transnational mode of energy production and distribution prompts debate in Costa Rica
ABI staff member Alke Jenss, together with Hanna Schnieders, published an article at Phenomenal World on Costa Rica's proposed energy sector reform.
After assuming office in May 2022, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves announced plans to restructure the country’s electricity sector. His government introduced Law 23.414 to give private companies a more prominent role in the currently state-dominated energy sector, both in electricity generation and transmission. Jenss and Schnieders outline what it could mean for the role of the state and energy justice to disband Costa Rica's electricity provider, ICE, which was founded in 1949 and has since played a core role in Costa Rica's social democratic state and its solidarity model of energy. Although ecological activists have been critical of ICE's recent projects, privatization could undermine decades of social progress, especially in remote and marginalized communities.
The whole article is available on the website of Phenomenal World. It is also available in Spanish and Portuguese.