When the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba lost 86 percent of its crude oil supplies. In the pursuit of socialism, the country had become one of Latin America’s most oil-dependent economies. In the face of the energy crisis and the hardship that followed, Cubans started to develop a low-carbon economy based on economic and social reform rather than high-tech innovation. Many observers have described this period of transition as a Cuban “energy miracle” or even a real-life case of successful “degrowth”. In this seminar, Gustav Cederlöf presents his new book, The Low-Carbon Contradiction: Energy Transition, Geopolitics, and the Infrastructural State in Cuba (UC Press, Sept 2023), which assesses these claims. Working with original research from inside households and workplaces, universities and government offices, Gustav retells the history of the Cuban revolution as one of profound environmental change. In particular, the energy transition stirred conflict around land use. The Cuban case opens up new questions about energy transitions, their politics, and the conditions of a socially just low-carbon future.

Gustav Cederlöf is an Associate Senior Lecturer in Human Ecology at the University of Gothenburg. He has a PhD in Geography from King’s College London and has worked in Cuba for the past 15 years.