Date: Monday, 22nd May, 5:30-7:00 pm (CET)
In the desire to decarbonise the economy and production, there is one element that resonates above all else: green hydrogen. In order to develop it, the aim is to reproduce the same transport and consumption model as with fossil gas and, for this reason, the European Union, the Spanish state and countries of the Global South have developed their roadmaps to make hydrogen a reality.
Furthermore, both because of the European green transition and the need to break energy dependence on Russian gas, the European Union has created public funds and mechanisms that can finance projects for hydrogen production and transport. This has meant that in recent years, energy and fossil fuel companies such as Repsol, Iberdrola, Enagás, among others, have been lobbying for the development of hydrogen, promoting old gas infrastructures to transport hydrogen.
With the idea of continuing to meet the current demand for fossil gas with hydrogen, the European Commission is looking beyond the European continent. Chile is one of the countries that has been defined as a strategic partner to carry out the energy transition in the European Union and has a national roadmap for the development of green hydrogen. This will be used for decarbonisation of the mining sector and for export, and international investment funds and European fossil and energy companies will play a relevant role.
Green hydrogen projects pose a threat to the way of life of the indigenous communities, in this case the Chango people who live in the coastal villages, as they are mainly engaged in fishing and seaweed gathering. Already with the installation of thermoelectric plants two decades ago, they have seen how the desalination process alters marine ecosystems and increases marine and air pollution, putting their health at risk as well.
What is the green hydrogen strategy in Spain based on? How will it be financed, and which companies will benefit? What is the green hydrogen strategy in Chile? Which companies and international funds are involved? What impacts will green hydrogen projects have on the indigenous communities of the Chango people? Are their fundamental and environmental rights being violated?
All these questions were addressed during a conversation between three international speakers with different profiles (plus the moderator), on a webinar attended by 52 people (of which 44 were from the EU). Simultaneous interpretation was provided in Spanish and English. Participants could ask questions via the Q and A of the Zoom platform, which were answered during the last half an hour of the webinar.
The aim of the webinar was to reflect on the large infrastructures that are being promoted around an energy vector that is to be transported but which still has a low efficiency and during the transport of which many losses can be generated, as well as needing large amounts of water to be produced. Also, the implementation of these projects in territories such as Chile is causing violations of the rights of indigenous peoples and communities, as well as damage to marine biodiversity.
The invited panelists (which can be consulted here) came from Chile – with whom the European Union was establishing relations to reach agreements in order to import green hydrogen – and from Spain and were from civil society as well as civil society organisations.
The theme of the webinar was related to a video, part of a series of three videos titled Uncovering the Green Transition, that was launched prior to the webinar through the social networks X and Instagram (the short version) and through YouTube (the full version) in English and with subtitles available in English, Spanish and Catalan. The video was also shown at the beginning of the webinar. The video can be watched here.
The recording of the webinar can be retrieved in the original version, Spanish and English.
More details on the webinar and how it was evaluated by the participants through the EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values, that was sent after the webinar, can be found in the detailed event description here. The overall assessment of the webinar by its participants reached a score of 4,57 out of 5.
