"The human rights abuses of renewable energy companies in Mexico", 6th July 2020

The UN Special Rapporteur on indigenous rights stated that those first contracts “undermined the freedom of the consultation process and caused divisions and tension within the community.”

This is a constant pattern that has been repeating itself not just through Mexico, but through Latin America and beyond; communities are constantly denied access to adequate information, forcibly silenced through violence or the threat of it, and often just simply ignored. The tensions and rifts exacerbated by actions exerted from power are doing little to unite communities behind the pursuit of zero-carbon energy solutions, in fact achieving the opposite.

This is a worry well understood by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, which this week released a pioneering benchmark that begins to articulate a cultural framework for the respect of human rights in the renewable energy sector. Professor of climate justice Mary Robinson summarizes in the report that “a narrow focus on short term return on investments regardless of the harm to people and the environment has led fossil fuel companies to lose legitimacy and social licence to operate.”

The BHRRC offers guidance to energy companies on how to meaningfully protect and champion human rights throughout their projects, including codifying policies that secure human rights, regularly consulting with affected communities and individuals in operational areas, and exploring shared ownership models which extend the benefits of certain projects to the communities they incorporate...