On Earth Day in 2024, we joined communities in the Aracatacá region of Colombia to talk about what a cleaner energy future could look like. For years, coal mining has played a big role in the local economy and the lives of people, leaving a devastating trail of death and destruction. In 2020, two major mines, La Jagua and Calenturitas, shut down suddenly, with no plan for supporting the 4,000 workers who depended on them. Local communities have been demanding compensation and fair treatment ever since.
To help create a new and better energy future from the ground up, we built a coalition with over 13 groups, including Indigenous Peoples, unions, women, peasants and fisherpeople. Together, we imagined new ways to grow the local economy and create jobs without coal. These ideas included cacao farming, agricultural and renewable energy cooperatives, and programs to train former coal workers.
This is an important moment for communities impacted by the coal industry in Colombia. They are starting to take control over their future – they can finally see alternatives, and create energy systems that are cleaner and bring improvements to their lives.
At 350.org, we believe that change starts with imagining a new future — and working together to make it real. That’s why we invest in supporting and empowering grassroots leadership. We will keep supporting community leaders in Colombia with training, coaching, and network-building, knowing that each step brings us closer to building a collective and safe energy future!
A great example of a long journey towards a big breakthrough happened in Colombia in December 2023. After years of supporting 14 communities impacted by the coal industry in the El Cesar and Magdalena regions, we achieved a big win: the Colombian government passed the “Energy Communities” decree – a new law that includes impacted communities in the plans for the energy transition.
This was possible thanks to years of advocacy from several groups. At 350.org, we helped raise awareness, amplified community voices and pushed leaders to take action. In November 2023, we took the fight to Congress, demanding coal mine closures, justice for affected communities, and fair energy policies.
After this action, we worked closely with lawmakers to get the government to implement new policies for a just and democratic energy transition. And it worked! Colombia became the first country in Latin America to regulate energy communities! The new decree allows Indigenous, rural and minority communities to generate, sell, and efficiently use power through renewable energy. They are a tool to build more resilient and inclusive energy systems. This is real local leadership for a just transition in action!
Every April, Acampamento Terra Livre (“Free Land Camp”) brings thousands of Indigenous people to Brazil’s capital city, Brasília. In 2024, the event celebrated 20 years of standing up for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and we were proud to support their demands and march alongside them.
Our partnership with Brazil’s two largest Indigenous networks– COIAB and APOINME – brought the fight against fossil fuels and for a clean and fair energy transition into the discussion about the future of the Amazon. This is both urgent and essential: oil and gas drilling are already harming several Indigenous and traditional communities in the region, and now the Brazilian government wants to expand it even further – all the way to the mouth of the Amazon River.
As part of our efforts to support local leadership, we worked with civil society groups like the Amazon Working Group (GTA), a coalition of almost 300 grassroots organizations in the Brazilian Amazon. Together, we helped amplify their political agendas and strengthen their fight for a just energy transition. We also supported Indigenous partners with media training, content production, and logistics — including materials, transportation, and food.
The event also marked the beginning of our journey toward COP30 in 2025, which will take place in Brazil. During the Free Land Camp, we helped draft a joint declaration for the Indigenous G9 – a group of Indigenous organizations from all nine Amazon Basin countries. The Brazilian Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, joined us for this important moment.
In the year ahead, we will continue to amplify the voices of Indigenous leaders and work to make sure their leadership shapes the energy future we all need – one that’s fair, clean, and rooted in justice.
Oil spills happen often in the Guanabara Bay, in the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. They are mostly linked to the production and transportation of fossil fuels, and have deep impacts on the health and income of people who fish for a living. In recent years, dozens of spills have been noticed by artisanal fishermen and women who work in the area – but most of them were never investigated because there wasn’t a good way to report them to the authorities.
Our close work with local, traditional communities meant that we were able to identify this problem and find a solution. Together with Association of Men and Women from the Sea (AHOMAR), we created “De Olho na Guanabara”, an app to track and record oil spills in the Guanabara Bay.
This app makes it possible to share information with authorities, with photos and their exact location. And to make sure reports lead to action, we created an unprecedented partnership with the Marine Coast Guard based in Rio de Janeiro and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMbio), the federal agency responsible for the management of these conservation units. 350.org provided the resources, tech expertise, and coordination capacity to turn this innovative initiative into reality.
“De Olho na Guanabara” was publicly launched in July 2024 and is already making a difference: It helps protect over 12,000 people, including at least 3,400 women who rely on the sea to survive. It also supports the protection of 475 types of marine animals and 117 conservation areas that are supposed to be kept safe by law.
This app is an example of how we are able to apply our skills in service of our partners’ fight for their rights.