Uruguay, a small Latin American country of 3.4 million, bordered by Argentina and Brazil, set out to cut its dependence on imported fossil fuels in 2005 and today runs almost entirely on a mix of wind, solar, hydropower and biomass.
Chile kickstarted its efforts to decarbonize its transportation sector in 2017 with a plan to electrify the public bus system in the capital city of Santiago. Today, the country has about 2,500 electric buses on the road, the second largest e-bus fleet in the world (see picture above) behind China and has cut “bad air” days in the capital by 66%.
Brazil has supercharged its innovation economy with a fast-track “green patent” program, which has slashed approval times for cutting-edge clean tech from 43 months in 2012 to nine months today. The country also launched a green patent label, which has boosted visibility and commercialization of a range of innovative technologies.
President Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela — the first step in his plans for asserting U.S. dominance over Latin America and the Caribbean — may not be only about the oil. The region has some of the best renewable energy resources in the world — solar, wind and hydro — already providing 70% of its electric power. It also produces 25% of the critical minerals needed for clean technologies.
And, as outlined in a recent report from the World Economic Forum and the Latin American Energy Organization, individual LAC countries stand as global models in the clean energy transition.
Trump’s plans for essentially taking over Venezuela’s oil industry could be a first step toward dampening and rolling back well-established and successful green policies and programs as part of his ongoing war on renewable energy.
Simply put, cool, clean energy stuff is happening all over Latin America and the Caribbean, and as in the U.S., Trump may try to discredit, sabotage or stop it.
One example, following the invasion of Venezuela and the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro, Trump suggested that the U.S. could target Colombia next, ostensibly to stop its cocaine industry.
But a potential U.S. takeover could come with a significant energy subtext. Heavily dependent on hydropower, the country has been aggressively deploying solar and wind and is drawing international investment for grid modernization and green hydrogen development.
Colombia is also hosting an international conference aimed at developing a global roadmap for a just phaseout of fossil fuels April 28-29 in San Marta, a resort city on the country’s Caribbean coast. The Netherlands is a cosponsor of the event. Could a U.S. invasion, or even the threat of one, derail the conference or keep some participants away?
The best-selling EVs in Brazil
Trump’s latest round of U.S. bullying in Latin America is also aimed at cutting China out of the LAC market, potentially affecting regional sales of the country’s high-quality, low-cost hybrid and electric vehicles.
A recent Reuters article reports that sales of hybrids and EVs in Peru rose 44% year over year in the first nine months of 2025, with imports coming in through a Chinese-built megaport north of Lima. BYD and Geely, both major Chinese automakers, have opened multiple dealerships in the country.
Chinese EVs are also best sellers in Brazil, Latin America’s largest car market. According to CNBC, Brazil imported about 138,000 Chinese hybrids and EVs in 2024, up 100,000 from the year before. In 2025, 80% of all EV sales in the country were Chinese models.
For example, BYD’s Dolphin Mini — a compact EV with a range varying from 185 to 245 miles — was launched in Brazil in 2024 and has quickly become the best-selling EV in the country, racking up 34,000 in sales by mid-2025. The Mini costs around $22,000, $7,000 less than a comparable EV from GM, the Chevy Spark, which is available in Brazil but not the U.S.
BYD is already producing the Dolphin Mini in Brazil, at a new megafactory that is the company’s largest manufacturing plant outside of Asia.
Both Trump and Chinese automakers see Latin America as a backdoor — either troubling or tantalizing — to the U.S. market. Trump’s tariffs and war on clean energy have thus far kept that door firmly closed to Chinese EVs, and he could apply pressure for LAC countries to tariff up.
Chinese brands have established a foothold in the Mexican market, with hybrids outselling EVs. But Mexico is negotiating with Trump over U.S. tariffs on its own goods, which was likely a factor in recent legislation that raised tariffs on Chinese imports, including cars, to 50%. Brazil is also phasing in higher tariffs on Chinese EVs, rising to a top rate of 35%.
China is protesting the new tariffs, while continuing to grow its LAC markets and preparing to bring its EVs to the U.S. Geely rolled out some of its EVs at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show — commonly referred to as CES — which ran Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas. In an interview with the Autoline Network, Ash Sutcliffe, Geely’s global communications chief, said the company’s plans for market expansion could include the U.S.
"The big question for us is when and where will we go to the U.S.A.," Sutcliffe said. "I think we'll have an announcement on that in the next 24 to 36 months.” Translation: The company is planning for a post-Trump entry in the U.S.
Losing 53,000 GWh of clean power
While pointing to the programs advancing clean energy in Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Economic Forum report also finds that progress on decarbonization is uneven across the region and details the problems to be addressed.
“LAC occupies a strategic but challenging position,” the report says. “The region faces a dual challenge: high climate vulnerability and vast yet clean energy potential, highlighting urgent adaptation needs.”
Major pain points include an aging grid, lagging workforce development and underinvestment in clean technologies and innovation.
Transmission and distribution systems are deteriorating, with losses of 13.5% versus a global average of 10.2%. “These grid inefficiencies are compounded by limited system flexibility,” the report notes. “In 2024 alone, the region lost an estimated 53,000 gigawatt-hours of renewable power generation due to curtailment, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 10 million households.”
Education and workforce training is another gap for the region. Only about 17% of college graduates hold a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics — STEM — “and gender gaps further constrain the talent pool,” the report says. Retraining displaced fossil fuel workers also needs to be a priority.
Investment in clean energy and regional grids is also well below the levels needed. In 2024, LAC accounted for only 5% of global private capital going to clean energy. The $70 billion raised in 2025 is less than half the estimated $150 billion that will be needed by 2030. “Clean tech R&D remains underfunded, and most innovations fail to scale, reflecting limited commercialization support and a lack of industrial partnerships,” the report says.
What is increasingly clear is that Trump’s interest in Venezuela and the rest of LAC is basically colonial, focused on the resources he can extract from the region, like oil and critical minerals, and then controlling their sale. The only investments he is interested in are the private billions he expects the U.S. fossil fuel industry to cough up to pump Venezuelan oil and construct the pipelines, ports and other infrastructure required to get it to the U.S.
Investing in and building on LAC’s tremendous clean energy resources and its people to grow a sustainable innovation economy that benefits all are likely not part of Trump’s agenda for the region. Nor is promoting climate action, democracy, the rule of law or human rights, as demonstrated by his decision to pull the U.S. out of 66 international groups and collaborations, including the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact.
Venezuela is a stark warning. To the extent that Trump sees renewable energy and climate action as attacks on fossil fuels and U.S. dominance, any progress on a transition to clean power in Latin America and the Caribbean will be at risk.
P.S. Other cool energy stuff in LAC
Reading the case studies in the World Economic Forum report, I kept thinking — “Wait, you mean this has been going on, and I didn’t know about it?”
So, here’s a quick rundown of some of the other cool stuff happening in Latin America and the Caribbean:
Energy efficiency in Mexico: The country first established Minimum Energy Performance Standards in 1994, focusing on appliances and industrial equipment and backed up with regulatory enforcement and collaboration with the business sector. The result: “Consumers saved on energy bills, while producers enhanced competitiveness and exports.”
Phasing out coal in Chile: Coal plants were coughing out 80% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, so in 2019, the government and utilities agreed on a plan to phase out coal by 2040. “Government, energy firms, unions and communities set closure timelines and local plans. Training, reskilling and diversification programmes opened new opportunities.” To date, 11 coal plants, 31% of existing capacity, have closed.
Renewables in the Dominican Republic: Like most island nations, the Dominican Republic was heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, at least until 2020, when it decided to up its deployment of renewables. In just three years, clean energy capacity was doubled, from 555 MW to 1,126 MW, “enabled by regulatory reform … which streamlined permitting, enhanced transparency and created incentives for foreign and private capital,” including $1 billion in new investment.