Presentation short abstract

The paper shows how hydrogen emerges as a contested frontier in Argentina, Chile, and Colombia, deeply entangled with historical patterns of extractivism and fossil infrastructures, and shaped by overlapping dynamics of political participation, land control, and socio-environmental contestation.

Presentation long abstract

The global push for decarbonization has positioned South America as a key site for the extraction of so-called ‘transition minerals’ and the development of climate change commodities, including green hydrogen. This paper critically examines the emergence of hydrogen as a new frontier in three emblematic regions: Río Negro (Argentina), Magallanes (Chile), and La Guajira (Colombia). We argue that the hydrogen frontier is not a clean break from the past but rather a deeply entangled process, embedded in historical patterns of resource extraction and fossil fuel infrastructures.

Drawing on the concepts of frontiers, territorialization, and socio-technical imaginaries, we explore how the hydrogen economy is materializing in these regions. The analysis highlights how the hydrogen frontier is shaped by overlapping and often conflicting dynamics of political participation, land control, and socio-environmental contestation. While each case study reveals distinct territorial configurations and imaginaries—ranging from policy conflicts to neoliberal governance and contested energy transitions – they also share a common feature: the coexistence and mutual constitution of renewable energy projects and entrenched fossil fuel infrastructures.

By combining theoretical insights with empirical evidence from these three regions, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the layered, contingent, and contested nature of the hydrogen frontier in South America. It challenges deterministic framings of ‘green extractivism’ and instead emphasizes the complex and context-specific processes through which hydrogen materializes on the ground.