These are Colombia´s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in compliance with Decisions 1/CP.19 and 1/CP.20 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In 2010 the country emitted an approximate greenhouse gas (GHG) of 224 million metric tons of CO2, representing only 0.46% of total global emissions to climate change, as stated by the Colombian Hydrology, Meteorology, and Environmental Studies Institute (IDEAM) and the Third National Communication on Climate Change.

Mitigation:

In the first place, Colombia committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% to the projected Business-as-Usual Scenario (BAU) by 2030. In November 2020, the Colombian Government modified this compromise. Under the new goal, Colombia committed to reducing its GEI emission to a maximum of 169.44 million Co2 tons, corresponding to a reduction of 51% of BAU by 2030.

Adaptation:

It was defined that the country will focus its efforts to 2030 jointly with other global targets that contribute to increasing resilience, such as those of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the 2030 Development Agenda, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), as well as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, in the following strategic lines:

• Synergies between adaptation and mitigation.
• Socio-ecosystem-based adaptation.
• Articulation between adaptation to climate change and risk management.
• Adaptation of infrastructure and economic sectors of the economy.
• Incorporation of adaptation and resilience considerations in sectorial, spatial and development planning.
• Strengthening of institutional capacities.
• Promotion of education about climate change to catalyze behavioral changes.
• Consolidation of peace territories considering climate change considerations.

In this sense, and intending to move towards economies, societies, and ecosystems resilient to climate change impacts, Colombia stated the following are the specific prioritized actions by 2030:

• 100% of the national territory covered by climate change plans formulated and being implemented.
• A National System of Adaptation Indicators that allows the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of adaptation measures iii.
• Water resource management tools, which include climate change and variability considerations, will be in place for the country’s priority water basins.
• Develop structural and non-structural risk management actions for adaptation to climate change in 30% of the municipalities prioritized for susceptibility to water shortages dry season and rainy season (2030) rainy season (2030).
• Achieve 68 % of the treatment of urban domestic wastewater by 2030.
• Reuse 10% of the domestic wastewater treated by service providers by 2030.
• By 2030, 40% all of health care service providers in the public sector will implement adaptation actions in the face of possible events associated with climate variability and climate change.
• Three (3) Tools implemented to improve the geographic information systems of the transport infrastructure for risk management.
• Include climate change considerations in agricultural sector planning instruments (PIGCCS) and (PIGCCS) and implementation of adaptation actions.
• By 2030, the country will have an Information System on Vulnerability and Risk and Adaptation to Climate Change (SIIVRA), which will evaluate adaptation to climate change, linked to the National Climate Change Information System (SNICC).
• 135 Watershed Management Plans of Hydrographic Basins – POMCA formulated and/or adjusted with considerations variability and climate change.
• Delimitation and protection of 100% of Colombia's paramos through management plans.
• Increase of 18,000 hectares in the restoration process, rehabilitation and/or ecological recovery.
• ecological recovery in protected areas of the National Parks System.
• Increase the percentage of the monitoring network with real-time transmission (from 24% to 35%) connected to early warning systems by 2030.
• Updating and implementation of 50% of the "National program for sustainable use, management and conservation of mangrove ecosystems" by 2030.
• Six (6) climate change adaptation and risk management for the sustainable use of mangroves (blue carbon ecosystem) under implementation by 2030.
• Six (6) priority sectors of the economy (transport, energy, agriculture, housing, health, and trade, tourism, and industry) will include climate change considerations in their planning instruments and will be implementing innovative adaptation actions.
• Strengthening of the awareness, training, and public education strategy on climate change, focusing on different stakeholders of the Colombian society.
• Increase of more than 2.5 million hectares in coverage of newly protected areas in the National System of Protected Areas -SINAP-, in coordination with local and regional stakeholders.
• Ten subsectors of the agricultural sector such as rice, coffee, livestock, with improved capabilities to adapt appropriately to climate change and variability.

Since 2010, Colombia has been developing policies to reduce forest deforestation and land destruction (ENREDD+) emissions and regional climate change mitigation strategies, including the CONPES 3700 Policy Document, the Colombian Low Carbon Development Strategy (CLCDS).

Colombia’s NDC seeks to provide further participation in the territories and sectors at the local level to prioritize and design their own climate change strategies, with a differentiated approach that takes into account regional circumstances. This aims at reconciling “bottom-up” and “top-down” strategies to establish enhanced coordination and participation of different stakeholders at the various government levels and links in the value chains of the different sectors.

There have been some key advances in the implementation of this long-term vision on mitigation and adaptation, that contribute to the achievement of the goals included by Law 1931 on climate change, enacted in 2018, including: (i) the National Program of Tradable Emission Quotas; (ii) The Climate Change management plan (PIGCCS ) and the mitigation measures of each of the ministries; (iii) the national carbon tax and the non-causation of the carbon-neutrality tax (Law 1819/2016 and Decree 926/2017); (iv) Law 1715 of 2014 on Renewable Energies; (v) Resolution 1447 of 2018 of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development on the monitoring, reporting and verification system for mitigation actions at the national level; (vi) Law 1964 of 2019 on Electric Mobility; (vii) Law 1972 of 2019 on air quality; (viii) CONPES 3874 on Integrated Solid Waste Management; (ix) CONPES 3919 on Sustainable Construction, (x) CONPES 3934 on Green Growth, (xi) REDD+ National Strategy; (xii) CONPES 3918 for the correct implementation of 2030 Agenda, (xiii) Low Carbon National Strategy; (xiv) Colombian carbon neutral Strategy; (xvi) E2050 Long-Term Strategy for Climate Resilience; (xvi) Climate Change National Policy; (xvii) National Climate Change Adaptation Plan, among others.

Even though citizen initiatives have been discussed and publicized, so far, there are no limitations or bans on the use of fossil fuels.

Currently, there is a wide range of laws about climate change:

1. Law 1931 of 2018, including:
   1. the National Program of Tradable Emission Quotas;
   2. the Comprehensive Territorial Climate Change Management Plans (PIGCCS) and the mitigation measures of each of the ministries;
2. the national carbon tax and the non-causation of the carbon-neutrality tax (Law 1819/2016 and Decree 926/2017);
3. Law 1715 of 2014 on Renewable Energies;
4. Resolution 1447 of 2018 of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development on the monitoring, reporting and verification system for mitigation actions at the national level;
5. Law 1964 of 2019 on Electric Mobility;
6. Law 1972 of 2019 on air quality; among others.
7. Resolution 2210 of 2017 by means of which the limit of the indicated quotient of the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions is set, specifically of Fuel Anhydrous Ethanol.

Colombia developed its National Climate Change Policy since 2014, which aims to introduce articulated initiatives in the country for mitigation and adaptation by increasing resilience and reducing the intensity of carbon in the economy.

In this context, the 2018-2022 national development plan (NDP) contains a sustainable growth strategy that states that climate change policy and a draft bill will be harmonized with a pledge to reduce emissions, adaptation and implementation that meets the robustness and fairness criteria. Colombia will submit this commitment following the UNFCCC Global Agreement. Such methods, therefore, allow climate change management to be integrated into the long-term decision-making of sustainable development and make it easier to achieve the objectives set out in the latest update of Colombia’s NDC.

Through different regulations, such as Law 1931 of 2018, Colombia enacted the Emission Trading Scheme. This regulation establishes that the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development shall regulate a certain number of permits and goals that must be accomplished by specific industries to comply with the National Policy for Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Agreement.

Also, this trading scheme is known as "Sistema RE - Sistema para la Reducción de Emisiones" (RE System - System for the Reduction of Emissions), previously under the name of the National Program of Tradable Greenhouse Gas Emission Quotas (PNCTE).

However Colombia is expected to launch the "pilot" phase of the Carbon Trading System in 2024.

Yes. By means of the Lay 1819 of 2016, Colombia implemented a carbon tax. This tax is not levied on taxpayers who certify that they are carbon neutral, in accordance with the regulations issued by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Decree 926/2017; Resolution 1447 of 2018).

No, national legislation does not regulate and/or subsidize carbon capture storage (CCS).

Throughout Colombia, there are two strategies for supporting the introduction into the grid of non-conventional renewables[17]-[19]. First, it includes tax incentives for I tax deductions on the declaration of investment income related to these purposes; iii) tariffs by the exemption on this generation from the payment of import duties on machinery and equipment;

The second statutory framework provides for the creation, in the sense of small-scale self-generated solutions and encouraging energy efficiency and good practices, of a Non-Conventional Energy and Efficient Energy Management Fund (FENOGE) which can fund all or part of the program and plan in the residential sector at levels 1,2, and 3.

Regulation has a significant disadvantage, which primarily affects most SMEs. This is the requirement of cuts in investment income, which should not, in any event, exceed 50% of net revenue and can not be exercised for the initial five years. Small companies, in most instances, have no income over this time and can not qualify for this substantial opportunity.

Therefore in this work, two more strategies were proposed: loan repayment cycles and lower discount rates for this purpose. The first incentive in Colombia is not mentioned but could be a result of a deal with the bank, which, as the results show, will require the transfer of deductions of investment tax to small enterprises. In order to recommend further steps that the government should take to encourage access to capital markets with lower debt levels, lower discount rates are also being examined.

Law 1931 of 2018 defines the Comprehensive Territorial Climate Change Management Plans (PIGCCS) as the instruments through which the territorial entities and regional environmental authorities identify, evaluate, prioritize, and define measures and actions for adaptation and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, to be implemented in the territory for which they have been formulated.

Particularly, Resolution 0431 of August 31st of 2020, issued by the Ministry of Housing and territory approves the Comprehensive Territorial Climate Change Management Plans (PIGCCS) for this sector.

In accordance with the diagnosis made for the sector, regarding the reduction of GHG emissions, goals, measures, the potential for reducing emissions by 2030 and the cost of implementing the measures were identified:

1. Sustainable Construction

This strategic line focuses on the reduction of GHG emissions derived from the construction and use of buildings and currently, there are two related instruments with different scopes.

• Reduction of GHG emissions due to savings in energy consumption in new buildings.

Resolution 0549 came into force in 2016 for municipalities with a population greater than 1,200,000 inhabitants. As of 2017, it became mandatory throughout the national territory. The GHG emission reduction potential projected to 2030 by the implementation of Resolution 0549 of 2015 in buildings corresponding to new homes is 0.18 Mton CO2eq. The GHG emission reduction potential projected to 2030 by the implementation of Resolution 0549 of 2015 in buildings other than housing is 0.14 Mton CO2eq.

• Reduction of GHG emissions due to the implementation of sustainable construction criteria in the life cycle of buildings.

2. Sustainable Urban and Territorial Development

Urban and territorial development involves various activities that generate GHG emissions that are related to various sectors of the economy.

The plan identifies three (3) measures for the reduction of GHG emissions related to planning, ordering and territorial development that are mentioned as follows:

• Low carbon urbanism

Low-carbon urbanism seeks to promote efficient urban processes, services, and systems to optimize the consumption of natural resources and reduce GHG emissions in cities. This measure will include, among others, criteria to promote urban tree planting processes in public spaces in search of enhancing carbon sinks, promoting the development of transport systems and sustainable urban mobility, as well as promoting the use of clean energy in buildings, collective facilities, and public space in cities.

• Formulation of the habitat NAMA

This Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action or NAMA (for its acronym in English), consists of the implementation of mitigation actions that have a direct or indirect impact on reducing GHG in comprehensive neighborhood improvement projects.

• Criteria for sustainable land use

Transportation is the main contributor to energy-related CO2eq emissions in Colombia. In 2010, transportation emissions were 22.6 Mt CO2eq, accounting for 10% of the national emissions inventory (IDEAM, 2015). The road segment was responsible for 88% of the transportation emissions, whereas the waterborne, aviation, and rail segments contributed 6%, 5% and 0.5%, respectively.

The high capital costs of reducing GHG emissions in Colombia's transportation sector could be the biggest impediment to implementation. Nonetheless, there are mitigating steps where the return exceeds the investment (e.g., fuel efficiency standards, public bicycle systems, switching to natural gas vehicles for freight transport).

Regarding the measures taken by the national government, we found that in the last two years and more specifically in 2020 the Colombian government updated its NDC, changing the whole picture on goals and policies to achieve an even bigger reduction of GHG by 2030. For the transport sector, the government updated its goals and specifically dictated that the main objectives by 2030 are the achievement of:

• Three (3) Tools implemented to improve the geographic information systems of the transport infrastructure for risk management.
  • Strengthen governance (effectiveness, quality, good guidance in sector interventions) of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in transport sector institutions at the central and territorial level according to their competencies, including the improvement of geographic information systems of transport infrastructure.
• Two (2) technical guideline documents prepared to carry out risk studies for transportation infrastructure.
  • Expand knowledge of the territory, the risk factors and climate change that affect the different modes of transport.
• Policy for Disaster Risk Management - DRM and Adaptation to Climate Change - ACC formulated for the sector.
  • Include disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in the planning and development instruments of the transport sector.
• Two (2) Methodologies for calculating the risk of transport infrastructure designed and implemented; Pilot project implemented for the applicability of the green road infrastructure guidelines.
  • Reduce the risk of disasters of the different modes of transport through prospective, preventive, and corrective interventions as a result of knowing the risk.

Also, as part of the measures being taken to promote and motivate the use of energy transportation the congress enacted Law 1964 of 2019 on Electric Mobility, which created incentives and obligations that promote the use of electric vehicles, with the purpose of achieving sustainable mobility and reduction of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of the development of the strategy, the industrial sector has been defined as one of the eight priority sectors due to its role as an engine for national economic development, its high participation in the consumption of energy resources and its potential to reduce the footprint of carbon associated with production processes.

According to this, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism have led since 2013 the elaboration of the Sectoral Mitigation Action Plan (PAS), which aims to identify and implement measures that promote the competitiveness and productivity of the Colombian industry, simultaneously promoting the reduction in the emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), generated throughout the value chain of the goods and services produced.

The Colombian Low Carbon Development Strategy (ECDBC) is part of the institutional strategy for climate change defined in CONPES 3700 of 2011, as well as the component of environmental sustainability and risk prevention of the National Development Plan 2010-2014.

This National Development Plan mentions the need to implement the National Policy on Climate Change through the formulation and implementation of four different strategies:

1. The Colombian Strategy for Low Carbon Development.
2. The National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change - PNACC.
3. The National REDD Strategy, on forest conservation; and,
4. The Strategy for financial protection against disasters. The ECDBC is a national development planning process in the short, medium, and long term, which seeks to evaluate and implement measures that promote the optimization of processes, the improvement of efficiencies and the increase of the competitiveness of the national productive sectors, encouraging thus the long-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the sector.

Specifically, the ECDBC constitutes a process focused on the development of sector priorities as a tool for mitigation. The main objectives of the strategy are:

1. Create tools to promote the efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness of Colombian productive sectors, reducing their carbon intensity.
2. Be transparent about the emissions generated by the Colombian productive sectors and identify mitigation possibilities.
3. Follow up on the country's progress towards the international challenge of reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions.
4. Develop mitigation action plans for each productive sector of the country with actions that will be financed with national and international resources.
5. Build a monitoring and reporting system to follow up on the emissions and proposed action plans.
6. Empower and motivate the sectors to make decisions that reduce their emissions in the future, while achieving the sector's growth goals.

Like other Latin American countries, the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector is the largest contributor to GHG emissions in Colombia. By 2020, this sector contributed 58% of the total emissions in the country.

The agricultural sector headed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the planning instrument Comprehensive Climate Change Management Plan for the agricultural sector (PIGCCs) oriented to Climate Change, will promote the strengthening of adaptation capacities, the reduction of the vulnerability and risk of the sector, the transition to low-carbon agriculture, the implementation of adaptation and mitigation measures.

The PIGCCS Agriculture has 5 lines:

1. Information on climate change and risk management to guide decision-making. Strategic Line.
2. Sustainable agricultural practices. Strategic Line.
3. The resilience of the agricultural sector to face risks due to extreme weather events. Strategic Line.
4. Investment and public policies for resilient and low-carbon rural development. Transversal Strategic Line.
5. Institutional coordination, research and capacity building. Where each of these lines has measures and actions that respond to the management of climate change in the sector. With a total of 16 measures and 39 actions.

Within the framework of the measures proposed in the Sectorial Climate Change Comprehensive Plan (PIGCCs), the ambition of this goal is aimed at continuing to strengthen capacities in the agricultural subsectors on issues such as:

1. Improve the scope of climate information and adjust it in a functional way to the needs of the first links in the production chains, especially primary producers, to contribute to adequate decision-making.
2. Involve private sector actors in climate action policies.
3. Develop analysis with a gender perspective.
4. Build and implement a monitoring and evaluation system for adaptation involving the private sector, which is aligned with the monitoring indicators, goals and objectives that define the subsectors for the development of their activities.
5. Promote the formulation and implementation of comprehensive plans for adaptation and mitigation in each subsector.
6. Involve and combine traditional and scientific knowledge in adaptation measures in order to improve their impact. It is important to promote the linkage of primary producers to the generation of information, the development of good practices, based on their own knowledge, and the strengthening of the appropriation of scientific information in two ways.
7. Exchanges of experiences between subsectors to improve good agricultural practices in adaptation measures.
8. Comprehensive agricultural extension based on the generation, accumulation, socialization and adoption of knowledge for the technical change necessary in adaptation and mitigation processes to the causes and effects of variability and climate change, in line with the National Agricultural Innovation System (SNIA).

The objective of the Comprehensive Climate Change Management Plan for the mining-energy sector (PIGCCM-E) is to reduce vulnerability to climate change and promote low-carbon development at the sector level, strengthening and protecting the sustainability and competitiveness of the Industry.

In this way, the PIGCCM-E is constituted as an instrument through which the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) identifies, evaluates and guides the incorporation of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategies and adaptation to climate change in sector planning, supporting and supporting its policies and regulations, in a planning horizon of 12 years.

The PIGCCM-E is structured in three components:

1. Mitigation,
2. Adaptation and
3. Governance; as a cross-sectional component.

Each of these components has strategic lines, which in turn are divided into actions and activities.

The adaptation component seeks to address two main negative impacts generated by climate risks on the industry: Impact on mining and energy production and increased conflict due to impact on the territories. These impacts will be managed through the following strategic lines:

1. Resilient infrastructure: in which disaster risk management is incorporated,
2. Short and long-term planning: by which it is intended to strengthen the planning and operation of the sector
3. Management of the environment: that seeks to address the indirect impacts that are generated by the impact on the territories and
4. information for adaptation: by which it is sought to reduce the uncertainties inherent to adaptation processes.

On the other hand, the mitigation component has as its main objective the reduction of GHG emissions. In this sense, the policies show a primary need to generate a technological reconversion of equipment, more energy-efficient processes, transformation of non-interconnected areas, diversification of the energy matrix, hourly pricing models and management of fugitive emissions in the energy hydrocarbon sector.

This is addressed by the different strategic lines of the component:

1. Energy efficiency,
2. Power generation,
3. Demand management and
4. Fugitive emissions, which have different actions to generate a regulatory, management and planning that allows the fulfillment of these objectives and capacity building.

Finally, there are five transversal strategic lines:

1. Financial management,
2. Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV),
3. Knowledge management,
4. Operation and
5. Cooperation and resilient development, which seek to generate the conditions for development, implementation, and monitoring of the objectives of reducing GHG emissions and increasing resilience to the threats generated by climate change, all of which are framed in the Governance component.

The formulation of the National Climate Financing Strategy (ENFC) was developed jointly with the members of the Financial Management Committee and other relevant stakeholders. In this process, the country's vision regarding climate financing was defined, through a diagnosis developed in 2016 on the analysis of financing gaps and the main challenges and solutions to achieve the vision of climate financing in the country.

As a result of this formulation process, the objectives, vision, lines and scope of the National Climate Financing Strategy are presented as follows:

• Objective: Identify the mechanisms that allow the mobilization of resources in a sustainable and scalable way to achieve the objectives of the National Climate Change Policy (PNCC).
• Vision: "By 2030, climate change will have been incorporated into Colombia's economic and financial planning, execution and evaluation cycles, and sustainable and scalable financing for low-emission and climate-resilient development will have been guaranteed."

In order to meet the vision and objectives set, the ENFC proposes a series of strategic and cross-cutting lines that are aimed at addressing the challenges of climate financing in the country, as well as advancing in the mobilization of resources that guarantee the financing of low carbon and climate compatible development.

In this sense, two strategic lines have been defined: i) the development of economic and financial instruments, and ii) management and access to financing sources. Together, these lines are focused on overcoming the gap between the required resources and the investments in climate change that have been made.

Additionally, two transversal lines have been established: i) the generation and strengthening of capacities; and ii) knowledge and information management; which will contribute to reducing the climate financing gap, facilitating the implementation of the strategy and the articulation of the actors to make it possible to achieve the objectives of the strategy.

Colombia's High Court has issued a landmark decision in response to a legal letter of the 25-kid and young-group that urges the government to stop deforestation of the Amazon. It recognizes the "entity subject to rights" in the Colombian Amazon.

The high court ordered that Colombia's Amazon should be protected from deforestation, ensuring the right to a healthy environment, nature, education, food, and water for present and future generations.

In the Amazon, the primary cause of the country's climate change, the Colombian government has four months to present an action plan for deforestation. This court judgment notes that "we face serious and imminent damage," since deforestation leads "to carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, to the effect of a greenhouse effect that transforms, fragments and affects ecosystems on water resources."

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