State capacities, energy transition and climate justice: regional research for mapping and analyzing innovative public policies with a focus on fiscal justice in Latin America and the Caribbean
(with a focus on Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru)
Background
Within the context of profound and intertwined global transformations, Latin America and the Caribbean are experiencing a juncture marked by the convergence of socio-environmental, climatic, economic, and geopolitical crises and reconfigurations that are straining existing development models. Climate change, the energy transition, and the restructuring of global value chains are intertwined with hegemonic struggles, new environmental regulations, processes of production relocation, and the advance of trends toward green reindustrialization in the Global North.
In this evolving landscape, countries of the Global South face a historic dilemma: reproduce extractive, dependent, and socially unequal models, or build development pathways that acknowledge the planet's ecological limits, strengthen their state capacities, and link the energy transition with climate and fiscal justice. This challenge entails addressing the tensions between energy security and energy sovereignty, as well as advancing industrial policies that promote productive transformation, income redistribution, and the reduction of structural inequalities.
At the same time, the rise of climate change denial, both in the Global North and the Global South, weakens the consensus needed to promote socially just energy transitions. The region, one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, is also a strategic territory for critically rethinking dominant economic models and promoting interpretive frameworks that integrate the notions of energy inequality with the distributive dimension of fiscal justice.
In this context, the analysis of state capacities to design, implement, and sustain innovative public policies that link energy transition, climate justice, and progressive tax reform becomes central. Likewise, it is crucial to understand how new industrial policies driven by global actors—such as the United States, the European Union, China, and India—impact the development strategies of Latin American and Caribbean countries, and what opportunities exist to strengthen South-South cooperation, regional integration, and the development of autonomous agendas.
In the face of these tensions, it becomes urgent to produce rigorous, comparative knowledge that allows us to identify, map, and systematize successful public policies developed at the local and national levels in the region. Recognizing concrete experiences in Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Paraguay, and Peru will not only document institutional innovations and accumulated lessons learned, but also contribute to building analytical frameworks and proposals that strengthen energy sovereignty, fiscal justice, and socio-ecological transformation within a democratic framework.
Considering this background, this call is presented as part of the effort to consolidate a regional ecosystem of critical thinking and public action that articulates energy transition, climate justice and economic transformation from a perspective situated in the Global South.
At a historic moment of dispute over the meaning and direction of the ongoing transformations, this initiative calls on research teams to actively contribute to building alternatives that integrate environmental sustainability, social equity and fiscal justice as pillars of a new development horizon for Latin America and the Caribbean.
RULES OF THE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
- The information provided in the registration form is considered a sworn statement.
- Collective applications are expected (teams of between 3 and 5 members).
- At least one of the members of the applicant team must maintain accredited links with a CLACSO Network Member Center.
- If the project is selected, the team must submit a letter of support signed by the highest authority of the Member Center with which the proposal is linked.
- If applicants are affiliated with a CLACSO member center, the center must not have any outstanding membership fees for the year 2025.
- Team composition must respect gender parity. Teams are expected to be intergenerational, integrating researchers from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
- The teams must be made up of trained researchers, that is, those who hold a master's degree, doctorate or equivalent, and proven academic track record; and researchers in training, that is, those who are pursuing master's/doctoral studies or have a degree.
- Proposals from researchers who are currently recipients of fellowships or grants under other research calls, scholarships, or essays organized by CLACSO will not be accepted. Applications from researchers who have been selected in a CLACSO research call will be accepted, provided that the recipient has fulfilled all obligations in a timely manner.
- Members of the Steering Committee or officials of the Executive Secretariat of CLACSO, or officials of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), may not participate.
- Each researcher may only participate with one proposal in this Call.
- To register the research proposal, the team must select one member as responsible for project registration. That person must open the form and include the other team members. They should not open forms individually.
- Should the project be awarded and any travel be necessary, the winners will be responsible for covering the costs of medical insurance or similar expenses.
- Completed research projects will not be accepted. Proposals may be linked to ongoing research processes, but the final works must be original and unpublished products and developed within the period established by the call for proposals.
- Texts written in the four languages commonly used in Latin America and the Caribbean (Spanish, Portuguese, English and French) will be accepted, depending on the country of origin of the proposal.
- Proposals must be uploaded to the registration system, completing the form that appears once the personal and academic data of those who make up the research team have been completed.
- In the first stage, the submitted proposals will be reviewed for their formal and administrative aspects to ensure their compliance with the competition rules. Proposals that do not meet the established requirements will be rejected.
- Applications that pass to the next stage will be evaluated by an International Committee composed of experts who will assess the quality and relevance of the proposals, which will be submitted under a pseudonym.
- The Call may be declared void or a smaller number of projects may be selected, if the proposals submitted do not meet the required quality and consistency.
- Situations not covered in this document will be resolved by the convening institution.
- The ruling will be irrevocable and unappealable.
- The research projects will develop their work plan between July 2026 and March 2027. This plan will be implemented under the facilitation of tutors assigned by CLACSO.
- The progress and final reports submitted by the researchers will be evaluated by the tutors.
- The final products to be delivered will be at least two:
- Chapter for a collaborative book. The chapter should be between 12.000 and 15.000 words (excluding appendices and bibliography) in Times New Roman 12-point font, single-spaced. This is an approximate length guideline, and CLACSO and OSF reserve the right to make adjustments or exceptions if deemed necessary. Furthermore, once submitted, CLACSO and OSF may request adjustments and changes from the researchers to ensure the final research chapters meet institutional criteria for publication. The text structure is flexible, adhering to academic presentation conventions and CLACSO's editorial guidelines, as well as APA style and genre conventions.
- Action Guidelines (ALGs) document, containing inputs, proposals, and recommendations for public policies and social intervention on the topics investigated, based on the research results. The format of these AGs will be communicated in due course.
- Texts written in Spanish and Portuguese will be accepted, depending on the country of origin of the proposal.
- Visit the CLACSO website at clacso.org.
- Register in the CLACSO Single Registration System (SUIC). The generated username and password will be required each time you wish to access the system to consult, modify, add, or submit information for this or any other CLACSO activity. Applicants who are part of collective proposals must open a single form where all researchers on the team will be included. Do not register individually. Furthermore, one of the authors must be designated as responsible for registration.
- Identify the proposal by indicating its title and the pseudonym of the applicant(s). Applications with pseudonyms that correspond to the applicant's first and/or last name will not be accepted. Once the corresponding fields are completed, the system will enable the uploading of the following data.
- Applicants must indicate their institutional affiliation with a CLACSO Network Member Center on the application form. The updated list of member centers can be found at: https://www.clacso.org.ar/clacso/centros_miembros_clacso/inicio.php.
- Complete the personal and academic data form and attach your curriculum vitae in free format; a digital copy of your identity document, passport or ID card; a digital copy of your highest academic degree (or proof of degree in process) and your photograph (which will be used for the publication of the decision if you are selected).
- The proposal must be filled out on the form that appears once the personal and academic data has been completed.
- Once registration is closed, the system will produce an electronic certificate of receipt that will serve as proof of application.
Registration closes: June 18, 2026
Winners will be announced in July 2026.
Project implementation: July 2026 to March 2027
Final report due: March 2027
The results will be published on the CLACSO website. The winners will be contacted by email.
Queries: [email protected]
