“ROADMAP”: THE CONSTRUCTION OF POLICY PATHWAYS FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION AND CLIMATE JUSTICE IN THE CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT

Abstract

The Roadmap report, linked to the COP pathway between Baku and Belém, places energy transition and climate justice at the center of the challenge of expanding climate finance for developing countries, with the goal of reaching at least US$ 1.3 trillion per year by 2035. The document highlights that the climate crisis demands urgency, international cooperation, reform of financial flows, and the construction of pathways capable of articulating mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, energy access, and just transitions. In this context, the present article analyzes the political roadmaps formulated within the scope of the “Baku-Belém Roadmap,” considering their contribution to energy transition, climate justice, and the reorganization of international climate finance. The guiding research question is: in what ways can the political roadmaps proposed in the Baku-Belém Roadmap contribute to a fair, financially viable, and socially committed energy transition for the countries and populations most vulnerable to the climate crisis? The theoretical-methodological framework of this study is primarily based on the document Baku-Belém Roadmap (2025), considering its propositions regarding climate finance, decarbonization of energy matrices, expansion of renewable energy, and the construction of financial mechanisms aimed at a just energy transition in developing countries. In dialogue with the report, the study also engages with Acselrad (2010), Beck (1992; 2008), Chakrabarty (2021), Daly (2008), Giddens (1991; 2000; 2009), Gudynas (2004; 2015), Harvey (2003; 2006; 2007; 2014), Klein (2014; 2019), Krenak (2019), Latour (1993; 2017; 2018), Leff (1998; 2001; 2006), Malm (2016), Martinez-Alier (2002), Mitchell (2011), Moore (2015; 2016), Ostrom (2005; 2015), Polanyi (2001; 2005), Porto-Gonçalves (2006; 2019), Rifkin (2002; 2011; 2019), Shiva (2015; 2016), Smil (2010; 2017; 2022), Stern (2015), Svampa (2016; 2019), and Yergin (2020), among other authors in the fields of climate justice, environmental political economy, global climate governance, and contemporary transformations of energy systems. The methodology is qualitative (Minayo, 2007), descriptive and bibliographic (Gil, 2008), with a comprehensive analytical bias (Weber, 1949). The findings demonstrated that the “Baku-Belém Roadmap” proposes a broad reorganization of international climate finance, articulating energy transition, climate justice, territorial adaptation, and the strengthening of multilateral cooperation to reduce global inequalities in access to climate capital. The study identified that the viability of decarbonization depends on the expansion of concessional financing, the reform of the international financial architecture, and the democratization of access to clean energy in the countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis. The research also showed that the Roadmap associates environmental sustainability, territorial protection, social inclusion, and economic development as interdependent dimensions of contemporary climate governance.