Long-term power supply auctions are an increasingly popular instrument worldwide for attracting renewable energy investment while cutting prices, increasing energy security, and reducing emissions. Latin America has been at the forefront of using auctions to boost renewable energy capacity. This study analyzes design and outcomes of government-led long-term power auctions with participation from non-conventional renewable sources in six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Jamaica) since 2015.
Lisa Viscidi, director of the Energy Program, spoke about the production of natural gas in Argentina and the fuel’s role in the country’s energy transition on a panel organized by the Organization of American States’ Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas on December 13.
La directora del Programa de Energía, Cambio Climático e Industrias Extractivas, Lisa Viscidi, habló con el Comité Español del Consejo Mundial de la Energía (CECME) sobre el debate entre la privatización y el nacionalismo de los recursos en Latinoamérica y la transición energética.
Lisa Viscidi, director of the Energy, Climate Change and Extractive Industries Program, gave a presentation to the Energy Working Group of the Elcano Institute on clean energy auctions in Latin America and how their intelligent design could benefit other countries in the region.
Electric mobility is gaining ground globally as technology costs fall, awareness is improved, and policies are increasingly aligned with environmental goals. Caribbean nations are well positioned to reap the benefits of electric mobility, concluded panelists at an event hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue and New Energy Events, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States.
2019 marks the first year since new leaders in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico took office. We can now see more clearly the way their policy decisions have affected the energy sector and opportunities for investment. Meanwhile, Argentina holds presidential elections later this month. Venezuela, in turn, faces a worsening economic crisis as oil production plummets. Industry experts, government officials, and corporate representatives convened to discuss these issues and their regional impacts on October 2 at the Inter-American Dialogue.
On September 17, 2019 the OAS, in collaboration with the Inter-American Dialogue hosted the event “Challenges and Opportunities for Electric Mobility in the Americas” to discuss the progress of electric mobility uptake in the region.
La directora del Programa de Energía, Cambio Climático e Industrias Extractivas, Lisa Viscidi, habló con CNN en Español sobre el cambio climático en América Latina y qué países en la región están más lejos de cumplir con promesas de reducir sus emisiones.
La directora del Programa de Energía, Cambio Climático e Industrias Extractivas, Lisa Viscidi, habló con CNN en Español sobre el cambio climático, sus impactos en América Latina y el nivel de compromiso de países en la región a esfuerzos internacionales para combatirlo.
The fires in the Amazon expose the very heart of the greatest collective action problem that humanity has faced, and it foreshadows harder battles to come. The actions of each individual country have consequences for the global climate, yet perpetrators are loath to make sacrifices when others, especially those with equal or greater responsibility, are not doing the same. The fact that threats of economic punishment seem to have shifted Brazil’s behavior suggests that a similar approach could be taken to address climate change on a larger scale. But it will not be easy, especially where the biggest emitters are concerned.
As wildfires rage in the Brazilian portion of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro finds himself under increased international scrutiny. Program Director Lisa Viscidi comments for BBC World News on Bolsonaro’s policies toward the Amazon.
Countries in the Amazon Basin are falling behind on their targets to cut deforestation. Environmental enforcement combined with economic incentives could provide a way forward, write Lisa Viscidi and Enrique Ortiz in this op-ed.
Deforestation rates in the Amazon River Basin have risen to near-record levels in recent years, threatening biodiversity and indigenous lands as well as global climate change efforts and weather patterns in the Amazon region and beyond. The lack of governance across Amazonian nations is a primary factor behind countries’ failure to stem forest loss, said experts at an event launching a new Inter-American Dialogue report on May 29.
The largest tropical rainforest on the planet, the Amazon plays a critical role as a storehouse of carbon and mediator of the global water cycle and holds a greater share of the world’s known biodiversity than any other ecosystem. However, unchecked development is placing the Amazon under threat, pushing deforestation rates to near-record levels throughout the region.
In a wide-ranging panel about current events in energy, Lisa Viscidi commented on the shift in the US energy trade balance and its effects on foreign policy, Chinese financing for foreign energy projects, the importance of upgrading transmission lines for expanding renewable power generation, and how the Green New Deal attempts to reframe the discussion on climate change in the US.
