This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: An international study involving ICTA-UAB reveals that large energy corporations use corporate sustainability narratives to legitimize wind, solar and hydropower projects that, in practice, exclude communities from fair economic and financial returns and ignore the projects' social and environmental impacts. Focusing on the major Italian group Enel, one of the largest electricity utilities globally and majority owner of the Spanish energy company Endesa, the research analyzes 15 cases of social conflict around renewable energy projects, including solar, hydro, wind and geothermal power, in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, India and Western Sahara.
The study, recently published in the scientific journal Ecological Economics, also involves researchers from the Università Ca' Foscari of Venice, the Universitat Ramon Llull and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Despite following the supposedly novel corporate concept of "Creating Shared Value" and presenting it as a way to benefit both companies and local populations, the company is still being confronted by local communities for infringing their rights. The authors argue that the corporate narrative works as a moral upgrade of corporate social responsibility, as corporations unilaterally define what counts as "value" in the energy transition, leaving out the fundamental values of affected communities, such as cultural ties to land, food sovereignty, health and autonomy over their natural resources.
The authors also warn that Enel's greenwashing and social washing are not isolated practices but part of a global pattern applicable to renewable energy megaprojects worldwide, where climate urgency is used to accelerate energy infrastructure construction that prioritizes profit-making over territorial well-being. Consequently, the results cast doubt on the willingness of large corporations to meet due diligence and human rights benchmarks. "The energy transition is urgent, but it cannot be built on the suffering of communities whose values are left out of the equation.
Understanding what 'values' are meaningful locally is a precondition for a transition that is truly just and sustainable over time. For example, it is contradictory to provide hydropower to the mining industry and claim you are using green energy, when the affected communities have been cheated, forced to move, and have lost their means of livelihood and community bonds, as happened in Chile," says Daniela Del Bene, a researcher at ICTA-UAB and Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Social movements, organized communities, journalists and international NGOs have long exposed violations of agreements and basic human rights principles.
Through a counter-reporting exercise and interviews, the research discusses five dimensions of impacts: environmental, socioeconomic, health-related, ontological and political. Grievances include the flooding of protected reserves, loss of biodiversity and incomplete environmental impact assessments. Added to these are the forced displacement of populations, disruption of traditional economies and noise-related health issues in wind energy areas.
Likewise, communities face growing stress, inadequate economic compensation, lack of transparent information and the systematic dismissal of spiritual or relational values in non-self-governing territories and conflict areas. Impacts on flora and fauna appear in every case, often alongside grievances over incomplete or fragmented environmental impact assessments. For instance, at the El Quimbo hydropower dam in Colombia, sources report that more than 8,000 hectares (19,800 acres) were flooded, largely within a protected area, and that over 30,000 people were affected.
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