Colombia is a country privileged by its northern location, bordered by both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and shaped by three mountain ranges and a variety of ecosystems across multiple climate zones. These range from marine-coastal areas and tropical rainforests to high-altitude páramos, encompassing a wide diversity of environments and climates. Its strategic position at the tip of the South American continent facilitates the migration and movement of wildlife not only within national borders but also across the region, and enables the development of valuable trade routes with neighboring countries.
This geographic location in the intertropical zone gives Colombia strong potential for natural resources used in renewable energy generation, such as solar and wind power—especially in the Caribbean region, due to its climatic characteristics. According to the Colombian Renewable Energy Association (SER Colombia), the country’s wind energy potential is estimated at 30 GW. The department of La Guajira, for instance, located at the northernmost tip of the country, has the highest concentration of trade winds, surpassing the global average with an average wind speed of 9.8 m/s and a wind energy potential of 18 GW.
According to the Offshore Wind Roadmap for Colombia:
“Colombia’s Caribbean coast has abundant wind resources, with a total estimated offshore wind energy potential of 109 GW. Taking into account various environmental, social, and other constraints, the analysis reveals that there are development exploration areas with a combined potential of approximately 50 GW. The estimated net capacity factors for representative project sites—which refer to the amount of electricity that could be produced relative to their full theoretical potential—particularly in eastern La Guajira, approach 70% and are among the highest in the world.
All of this, combined with the country’s ambitious climate, economic, and decarbonization goals, has been driving the planning, licensing, and operation of both onshore and offshore wind farms. While there has been significantly more progress in onshore wind development—particularly in La Guajira, where around 60 projects are currently in the licensing phase—Colombia is also beginning to pursue offshore wind energy in the Caribbean, with initial projects proposed in the departments of Bolívar and Atlántico. Likewise, it is essential to recognize the importance of transmission projects that aim to connect this wind energy to the National Interconnected System.
These departments have complex and diverse socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, with a strong presence of Indigenous communities (such as the Wayuu people in La Guajira or the Indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada in Magdalena), as well as Afro-descendant and peasant populations. In addition, they have experienced various historical interactions with extractive industries, which have resulted in different impacts and social conflicts in their areas of influence. While these conflicts are not solely caused by the arrival of this type of project or the installation of wind farms, they are the result of a set of multi-causal and historical processes that create situations posing risks to the exercise of human rights by communities living in these territories. It is therefore crucial to analyze these dynamics in order to strengthen an agenda for dialogue, conflict transformation, and human rights protection within the context of business activities.
In this context, as part of a joint effort between CREER and the Danish Institute for Human Rights, a Comprehensive Sectoral Human Rights Impact Assessment is being developed for the wind energy sector in Colombia. The proposed scope of the study includes the human rights impacts of both onshore and offshore wind energy projects in the Colombian Caribbean, with a specific focus on La Guajira. Within this framework, the assessment analyzes the broader ecosystem of wind energy generation and transmission.
This assessment includes three cross-cutting pillars as added value to guide the analysis of information and impacts:
Building on the above and other methodological components, this assessment aims to strengthen the following areas:
This assessment therefore represents an opportunity to transform State–business–community relations toward a bottom-up decision-making model that enables more equitable and dignified dialogue—breaking away from the transactional dynamics inherited from extractive economies.
Esta ubicación geográfica en la zona intertropical hace que el país tenga un fuerte potencial de recursos naturales para la generación de energía con fuentes renovables como la solar o la eólica, especialmente en el caribe colombiano por sus características climáticas. Según la Asociación de Energías Renovables de Colombia (SER), el potencial de energía eólica del país se estima en 30 GW. El departamento de La Guajira, por ejemplo, ubicado en el extremo norte del país, es la zona con mayor concentración de vientos alisios, por encima del promedio mundial con una velocidad media del viento de 9,8 m/s y un potencial eólico de 18 GW.
Al considerar este último aspecto, en un esfuerzo conjunto entre CREER y el Instituto Danés de Derechos Humanos, se busca desarrollar una Evaluación Integral Sectorial de Impactos en Derechos Humanos en el sector[1] eólico en Colombia, con énfasis en La Guajira. El alcance propuesto del estudio comprende los impactos actuales y potenciales sobre los derechos humanos de los proyectos eólicos en tierra (onshore) y costa afuera (offshore) planificados en los municipios de Uribia y Maicao. En ellos, la fase de delimitación del estudio identificó, entre los temas clave, principalmente:
Si bien estos proyectos se llevan desarrollando hace varios años en la zona, la aceleración de los últimos gobiernos para cumplir las metas climáticas y las agendas políticas alrededor de la transición energética, han incentivado una serie de reflexiones alrededor de cómo el sector eólico puede impactar concretamente a comunidades de las áreas de influencia. Así, este estudio sectorial contribuirá a una transición energética justa y la integración de la promoción, protección y respeto de los derechos humanos en el desarrollo de proyectos de parques eólicos a partir de 3 ejes principales:
Acá podrás ver algunos insumos que hemos construido sobre la EISI eólica.
Acá podrás consultar algunos insumos que presentamos en la conferencia de la Asociación Internacional de Evaluaciones de Impacto (IAIA por sus siglas en inglés), dialogando sobre los resultados de la fase diagnóstica del estudio que llevamos a cabo en La Guajira.
[1] According to the Danish Institute for Human Rights, a Comprehensive Sectoral Human Rights Impact Assessment (SHRIA) is an examination of the actual and potential human rights impacts generated by industries within a specific economic sector in a given geographic context, conducted through multiple levels of analysis. Its purpose is to provide a broad and comprehensive overview of the sector’s impacts on human rights. Therefore, instead of evaluating the human rights impacts of individual company projects or operations, a SHRIA focuses on the impacts generated by the entire industrial sector as a whole.
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Report from the meeting with workers and trade unions
Testimony from workers and trade unions
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