Project at HIAS
The Socioecological Paradox of the Energy Transition: Mineral Demand, Water Stress, and Socio-environmental Conflicts in Mexico – An Analysis Based on the NEXUS Methodology
The project examines the socio-ecological impacts of Mexico’s energy transition through the lens of the water/energy/minerals NEXUS. While renewable expansion is central to the global decarbonization agenda, it intensifies demand for critical minerals such as lithium, copper, and zinc, whose extraction is concentrated in northern Mexican states already affected by chronic water scarcity and social vulnerability. By combining case studies, hydrological data (SIUCAM), statistical evidence (INEGI), and conflict mapping for the period 2000–2023, the research highlights how the shift from fossil fuels to solar and wind energy reproduces extractive logics, exacerbating water stress, ecological degradation, and socio-environmental conflicts. Evidence shows that mining and energy projects overlap with pipelines, hydroelectric dams, and wind farms, correlating with increased violence and community resistance. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that integrates political economy, political ecology, and policy analysis, the study questions the sustainability of so-called “green energy” when based on environmentally harmful practices. Its findings aim to inform policy debates and contribute to the design of a fairer energy transition in Mexico—one that recognizes ecological limits, addresses territorial inequalities, and prioritizes human well-being over extractive imperatives.
Her Tandem Partner is Uwe Schneider, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Hamburg.
Website
Funding
The HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.
Tandem
Prof. Uwe A. Schneider, Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Hamburg
Biography
Isabel Rodríguez Peña holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), Xochimilco Campus. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Lateinamerika Institut, Freie Universität Berlin (2014–2015), and at the Center for Economic Studies of El Colegio de México (2016). Since 2022, she has been a Level I member of Mexico’s National System of Researchers. She is currently an associate professor at the Faculty of Economics, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), within the Distance Education System (SUAyED) section. From 2018 to June 2023, she served as a full-time professor at Anahuac University, Mexico, where she now participates as a member of the Energy Committee. Between 2019 and 2022, she led the project “Mexico’s Insertion into the New International Energy Scenario: A Macroeconomic Approach to Changes in Energy Supply and Demand”, funded by CONAHCYT’s Basic Sciences program. From June 2022 to December 2023, she served as Executive Secretary of the Latin American section of the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs) network. Her academic work includes authorship and co-authorship of articles in specialized journals. She is also an active advisor and examiner of undergraduate and graduate theses.
Isabel Rodríguez Peña’s research agenda is situated at the crossroads of political economy and energy studies, with a regional focus on Latin America. She is particularly interested in the systemic tensions between energy security and the energy transition, and in understanding how shifts in global and regional energy markets reshape patterns of extractivism, socio-environmental conflict, and economic development. A significant strand of her work examines the evolution of oil and gas markets, the role of hydrocarbons in Mexico’s macroeconomic performance, and the implications of natural gas consumption for greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonization strategies. Building on this foundation, her recent research explores the contradictions that arise when the expansion of renewable energies—especially solar and wind—intensifies the demand for critical minerals such as lithium, copper, and zinc, particularly in regions marked by water scarcity and social vulnerability. Isabel Rodríguez Peña also investigates the relationship between energy systems, household electricity consumption, and distributional inequalities, combining statistical analysis with interdisciplinary approaches drawn from political ecology and public policy analysis. Methodologically, her research integrates macroeconomic modeling and sectoral analysis. Overall, Isabel Rodríguez Peña’s work seeks to contribute to the debate on the institutional and policy frameworks of energy security and support a fairer and more inclusive energy transition in Mexico and the wider Latin American region.
Rodríguez Peña’s HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.
Image Information
The image shows Minas de Alquife, Granada, Spain. Source: Public domain, unsplash.com.