Klima versus Öl. Das Ausbleiben der Klima- und Energiewende im Ölstaat Venezuela

Abstract

Schlüsselwörter: Klimawandel, (Neo-)Extraktivismus, Venezuela, Fossilismus, buen vivir

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Climate versus Oil: The Absence of a ‘Climate and Energy Turn’ in Oil-Dependent Venezuela.

Abstract

Focusing on the situation in Venezuela, this paper discusses the conflict between active policies aimed at mitigating climate change and economic development strategies that are fundamentally based upon the extraction, the consumption, and the export of fossil resources. The specific quality of Venezuela’s neo-extractivist model of economic development, as well as more recent trends in the oil sector (e.g. China’s growing interest, the exploitation of tar sands in the Orinoco delta), leave very little room for a ‘climate and energy turn’. Moreover, the marked absence of a ‘buen vivir discourse’ in Venezuela, which incorporates the idea of environmental protection, may be contributing to this situation. While societal pressure and activism for change inclimate policies is relatively low in the domestic context, Venezuela takes a different position in international fora and negotiations. In articulating the specific responsibility of ‘capitalism’ in general and ‘the West/North’ in particular for the destructive economic dynamics resulting in climate change, Venezuela has so far shunned any liability for a more active climate change policy.

Keywords: climate change, (neo-)extractivism, Venezuela, fossilism, buen vivir

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Bibliographie: Brand, Alexander/Muno, Wolfgang: Klima versus Öl. Das Ausbleiben der Klima- und Energiewende im Ölstaat Venezuela, PERIPHERIE, 3-2014, S. 445-469. https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v34i136.22474