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Since 1970, every April 22 the International Earth Day, established by the United Nations (UN). Every year this date is dedicated to reflecting on the importance of caring for and preserving the planet.
As in 2025, the theme for this year continues to be the promotion of renewable energies, since energy is at the center of the discussion on the climate crisis and it is also key to your solution. According to the UN, 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy sector, particularly from the burning of fossil fuels such as gas, oil and coal.
Despite advances in environmental regulations and the push for cleaner technologies, the path to a sustainable future continues to be difficult in Latin America. Many industrial sectors, including those related to energy generation, are in a process of adapting to new standards that seek to reduce their environmental footprint without compromising productivity.
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On International Earth Day, Your friend presents some projects that try promote circular energy in Colombia, Peru and Argentina. Projects aimed at implementing renewable energies and, at the same time, using climate education to care for the environment.
In Colombia there is a novel project: energy communities, which are organized groups—citizens, associations, entities—that generate, manage and They consume their own energy, mainly renewable, under the framework of the fair energy transition.
This initiative was created by the Colombian Government, but has the support of non-profit organizations, such as Transforma, an entity that promotes climate action with a focus on justice to build a sustainable future and that supports sustainable projects in towns on the Colombian Caribbean coast. One of these projects is in Palmor (Magdalena department), where there is a small hydroelectric plant.
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David Ardila, economist and senior associate at Transforma Energy, told Your friend that theThe small hydroelectric plant had a favorable impact in the population of this town and that is why they collaborate so that the hydroelectric plant remains in force.
According to Ardila, We work under three approaches: local administration, operation and maintenance. “If communities do not assume their roles as administrators, operators and maintenance, the impacts could not be effective and there would be risks. Thus, now people see the energy transition as a real impact,” he stated.
Palmor generates its own energy and that is no small matter. This district of the municipality of Ciénaga (Magdalena) is located in the upper part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and was founded in the 1960s by farmers, mostly from the interior of the country, who settled in these fertile lands hoping to rebuild their lives. It is an area that is mainly dedicated to coffee production.
At the end of the 80s, electricity was a luxury that few could access. The Palmor Community Action Board dreamed of a project that seemed impossible: to build a small hydroelectric power station bring electricity to your homes. At that time, The plant had an initial capacity of 125 kilowatts (KW), enough to supply about 90 houses.
The idea was ambitious and the difficulties seemed insurmountable. However, The community responded with enthusiasm and joined the project, contributing labor and effort. The micro hydroelectric plant began to provide electricity to houses between 1990 and 1991. In 2018, the Association of Users of the Palmor de la Sierra Energy Service (Electropalmor ESP) was selected by the National Planning Department (DNP) of Colombia as one of the three companies in non-interconnected areas of Colombia – which are not linked to the National Interconnected System (SIN) and lack a constant and quality electricity supply – as reference to replicate your system of electric energy generation and apply it in other municipalities of the country.
Hoy, Electropalmor ESP produces up to 400 KW and is an example of sustainable electrification. “We are committed to social development through generation, distribution and marketing of sustainable energywith the aim of protecting the environment and building a future for new generations,” he told Your friend Sol Viviana Zapata, director of the company.
For his part, Ardila described Electropalmor ESP as the “cherry on the cake” for being a successful project with positive results. “It is the only company that managed to survive with a local scheme, with peasant, indigenous communities. This company supports itself by providing the service at low cost, with a tariff regime and maintaining the turbines,” he said.
Elsa Merma lives in the heart of the Peruvian Altiplano, in Espinar, a town located in the high, cold pampas at almost 4000 meters above sea level. There, Merma did what many cannot do: grow strawberries for export. “Everyone was surprised and no one believed us, but we did it,” he told Mongabay Can. The farmer added that she carries out this project together with six other women from Espinar.
“Since in Espinar we are at altitude, there were no vegetables or fruits,” said Merma. But it was at that moment when strawberry production appeared as a sustainable option for inter-Andean areas of Peru like this one, where projects have been developing for several years thanks to the implementation of greenhouses.
These greenhouses allowed strawberries to be grown in very high areas and even different products that require heat and a lot of care, such as carrots, lettuce or tomatoes. The proposal arose from the deep economic crisis that the world experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the midst of a health emergency, the CooperAcción organization implemented three microwater pumping systems using solar energy for strawberry production in greenhouses and grass production in open fields. Two of the micro pumping systems benefit two women’s associations dedicated to the production of strawberries in Espinar (where Elsa Merma lives) and in Chamaca, as well as two families in the Pacpaco sector, in the peasant community of Alto Huancané, dedicated to the production of grass for cattle and sheep.
All of these towns are part of the department of Cusco and are very close to the Lake Titicaca, water source shared with Bolivia.
Leopoldo Zambrano, anthropologist and specialist in peasant communities at CooperAcción, explained to Your friend that for the production of strawberries In Espinar, 0.3 liters per second of water are supplied to an elevated tank. With that water, he said, an area of 100 square meters is irrigated. through drip irrigation. For its part, in Chamaca there is the capacity to pump 0.6 liters per second of water into a five cubic meter geotank, thereby irrigating, under the same Espinar model, an area of 340 square meters.
“The beneficiaries have actively participated in the construction with unskilled labor. Currently, those that operate these microwater pumping systems ‘solar water’ “They are the beneficiaries themselves, who on special occasions involve their partners with maintenance of water sources, replacement of damaged accessories and reinstallation of the drip system,” said Zambrano.
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