TRANSICION ENERGETICA COLOMBIA BID-MINENERGIA-2403_2021

For Colombia, this global environment creates
the context for the next steps on transition.
For example, Colombia’s promotion of energy
efficiency and sustainability through renewable
purchase obligations should create market
conditions to drive improvements and boost
reliability in the country’s power grid. New
fiscal incentives to finance the development
of additional solar and wind and storage capacity,
as well as streamlining environmental
licensing processes, are positive signals to stimulate
private investment across the country.
Integrating renewable energy into production
of oil and gas is another step. For financial
markets focused on ESG investing criteria,
integrating renewable energy into long term
energy plans further underscores the stability
and attractiveness of future investments in
Colombia.
Indeed, Colombia’s actions are about assuring
competitiveness in a changing world and creating
job security and energy access at home.
This will help sustain growth in the coming
decades.
Energy access and modernization are also
gateways to education, health care, jobs,
and prosperity. In a short period, Colombian
household access to electricity has improved
significantly. Renewable energy sources in remote
areas have pushed the national electrification
rate closer to 97%. The increased use
of natural gas has allowed households to shift
away from burning coal and wood for home
cooking, improving health and life expectancy.
Meeting the goal of net carbon zero by 2050
-- or even large-scale reduction in anthropomorphic
carbon in the atmosphere -- will require
breakthroughs and innovations in chemistry,
physics and materials science, as well
as advances in carbon capture, hydrogen fuel,
digitization, manufacturing, artificial intelligence,
robotics, software, data analytics and
other technologies. Breakthroughs do not occur
over night. They take time – sometimes
decades. They require foresight in policy,
new incentives for investment, perseverance
in implementation – and always the discipline
to benchmark national action against global
trends. Global competition will intensify as
nations seek to attract global capital to make
real their ambitions to transform their economies
and energy systems. Colombia is taking
on this challenge.
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Prologue – Colombia’s
Energy Transition