The Energy Transition in French Guiana

French Guiana occupies a unique position in the global energy transition, geographically situated in South America, yet politically and institutionally embedded within the European Union as an overseas territory of France. This dual identity gives it a distinctive strategic profile: it is both a frontier of EU resource policy and environmental governance, and a territory shaped by the developmental challenges of the Amazon basin. While its energy mix is modest, French Guiana is making gradual progress in expanding solar, biomass, and hydropower capacities to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and bolster energy autonomy. At the heart of French Guiana’s resource potential lies gold, a mineral of increasing relevance to the EU’s critical raw materials strategy due to its role in high-tech manufacturing, defence systems, and monetary reserves. However, large-scale gold mining remains deeply contentious, given the territory’s ecological sensitivity, high rates of biodiversity, and Indigenous land claims. Illegal gold mining, particularly in remote rainforest regions, has created persistent governance and security challenges, intersecting with cross-border criminal networks and environmental degradation. As part of France, French Guiana is integrated into the world’s most advanced economic and defence alliances, offering it access to policy frameworks, infrastructure funding, and strategic initiatives unavailable to neighbouring Latin American states. Yet despite this institutional alignment, on-the-ground realities often reflect the tensions of a peripheral territory navigating environmental protection, energy sovereignty, and resource governance under both national and supranational oversight. In this context, French Guiana’s energy transition is not merely technical or economic, it is a geopolitical project, shaped by continental ambitions and post-colonial dynamics.