Foresight for Chile’s energy transition—unleashing societal transformations

Abstract A transition into a renewable energy system envisions high shares of solar, wind, and other renewables taken into use. As many sectors of the society as possible would be electrified, and further changes can be anticipated. This chapter takes Chile as a case study, a pioneer in economic development in Latin America, which is adopting growing shares of solar and wind energy and has set ambitious renewable energy targets. The chapter introduces how several foresight tools, including transformative scenarios and a Futures Clinique, were used to explore radical and discontinuous change. The insights open up long-term energy horizons, which speak of preferred futures, which are too complex for any single actor alone to achieve and too uncertain for linear frameworks to analyze. A deliberative and whole-of-society lens to foresight is advocated to reflect the dynamics of knowledge, power, and trust for transformative change and to acknowledge the innovation benefits of novel multistakeholder collaborations.