Reacción a "European Southern Observatory denounces industrial megaproject threatening Chile's Paranal Observatory, the world's darkest observatory"

I welcome the fact that the ESO (European Southern Observatory) is drawing our attention to the impact of this energy megaproject for hydrogen and ammonia production. This situation is not unique; megaprojects associated with a technically dubious and socially unjust ecological transition model are spreading all over the world. Consistent with what we know about the civilisational threat posed by the ecological and resource crisis, and as public servants who owe a duty to the welfare of the global citizenry, we in the scientific community should question such megaprojects more frequently.

The impact on ESO facilities is particularly relevant to this project. This will generate a lot of attention outside Chile and in the global astronomical community, as Cerro Paranal is an undisputed reference for modern astronomy, and what will be the world's largest optical telescope is also under construction in this area. ESO's investment is estimated at 6 billion dollars, compared to the 10 billion dollars planned by AES (anAmerican corporation that has already been sanctioned in Chile for its environmental impact) for its megaproject. These figures are comparable, and it is to be expected that the local authorities will at least listen to ESO. Both actors come from countries in the global North and it is to be expected that diplomacy will also play a role in what finally happens, hence the importance of us in Europe talking about this situation.

However, such projects are in question all over the world for many other reasons. The energy transition based solely on replacing fossil fuels with renewable electricity is globally unfeasible with the resources and technologies available today, and the most reasonable solution seems to be to rationalise the economy: sharply reducing energy and resource consumption while reducing global inequality in line with social justice criteria.

But, far from planning controlled degrowth, the world's major economies have embarked on a competition far removed from scientific criteria and human rights, and are trying to compete for material and energy resources that we know for certain are insufficient to maintain the current level of waste. It should be remembered that the richest 10% of the world's population is responsible for about half of the emissions that cause climate change. And the richest 1% pollute more than the poorest 60%.

Latin America is in the focus of this new extractivist current because of its abundant reserves of minerals needed for this dubious energy transition, and in this case because of the abundance of solar energy in low latitudes. Civil opposition to such projects is common throughout the continent, but receives limited attention. In this case the AES project is oriented towards the production of hydrogen and ammonia that would be used for local consumption and for export. Hydrogen is an energy carrier known for its limited efficiency, and more than a few voices in the scientific community are calling for caution in the face of the high expectations that have been placed on this technology.

I believe that it should not simply be a matter of moving this mega-project to another location, but of questioning whether this project is necessary in the first place, and if so, how, where and by whom it should be implemented. The conflict of the Hawaii observatories with the local communities of Mauna Kea has generated a lot of sensitivity in the astronomical community, and this sensitivity should lead us to think about how to articulate our critique of this project in collaboration with local communities, with a decolonial perspective and climate justice.