Cuba: International workshop “Energy Transition and Raw Materials: Tensions and Perspectives” was held at the University of Havana within the framework of the DAAD programme “Green energy and sustainable raw materials as a North-South-South partnership”
On February 10 and 11, 2026, the international workshop “Energy Transition and Raw Materials: Tensions and Perspectives” was held at the University of Havana within the framework of the DAAD programme “Green energy and sustainable raw materials as a North-South-South partnership”. Jointly coordinated by the University of Havana, the University of Kassel, and the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, the workshop brought together more than 20 academics, institutional representatives, and civil society actors from Cuba, Argentina, and Germany. Its aim was to analyze the dynamics, fields of tension, and political challenges of the contemporary energy transition from a Latin American and Caribbean perspective, with a particular emphasis on Cuba.
The starting point of the workshop was the assumption that the energy transition should not be understood solely as a technological shift, but rather as a comprehensive economic, social, and geopolitical transformation process. The discussions focused on the growing demand for critical raw materials and strategic resources, new investment and industrialization perspectives, as well as the related dilemmas of raw materials policy, extractivism, and socio-ecological impacts. In addition, questions of employment effects, territorial inequalities, gender-specific inequalities, and the role of state, academic, economic, and civil society actors in shaping sustainable energy transformations in Cuba and the region were discussed.