Sweeping Shale Gas Under the Rug: Communicating Clean Energy Futures Through the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative

Abstract: Energy sector transformation will define our coming decade, as an unprecedented energy transition is required to keep the planet to 2°C warming. Despite this urgency, strong governmental resistance to low-carbon energy transitions is observed. Under the Obama administration, a Caribbean energy policy was pursued that exemplifies this resistance. Promoted as a clean energy policy, the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative (CESI), pursued an all-of-the-above energy approach that included unconventional shale gas as part of a sustainable energy baseload. Through a qualitative content analysis of speeches, press briefings, and white papers, this research explores the United States’ political actors’ imagining of Caribbean energy futures through examining dominant frames and core strategies. Dominant frames reveal the prominence of the market and energy security. Core framing strategies diagnosed the problem as one of energy insecurity, prescribed increased private sector investment, and motivated this by the achievement of a democratic, prosperous, and secure Caribbean. Delivering such a future was placed in the hands of private sector and market actors, mirroring the neoliberalization of energy governance. Thus, CESI leaves little room for imagining alternative energy pathways and instead delivers a business-as-usual energy policy wrapped in green and clean packaging.