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Colombia Sectors

What is Colombiaʼs pathway to limit global warming to 1.5°C?

Emissions from residential and commercial buildings make up around 10% of total energy sector emissions for Colombia, mainly due to the growth in gas consumption.

Colombia launched a roadmap to decarbonise the buildings sector with specific targets and actions, aiming for all new buildings to be net zero by 2030 and for all buildings to be net zero by 2050.25

Some measures include improving energy efficiency standards for cooling and heating by implementing resolution N°0549 relating to sustainable construction.26

The range of 1.5 °C compatible pathways see an increase in electrification and a decrease in biomass consumption, with the electrification rate going up from 45% in 2019 to 90-95% by 2050.

Colombia will need to focus on improving building energy efficiency, and replacing heating and cooling appliances with efficient alternatives, among other measures, given that space heating and cooling are the main drivers of emissions in the sector.

1 Gobierno de Colombia- IDEAM. Segundo Reporte Bienal de Actualización- Informe de Inventario Nacional de GEI de Colombia. 180 (2019).

2 Editor. Colombian coal exports. The Coal Hub (2021).

3 U.S. Energy Information Administration. Colombia. U.S. Energy Information Administration (2019).

4 Gobierno de Colombia. Contribución Prevista Determinada a Nivel Nacional de la República de Colombia. (2020).

5 IRENA. Energy Profile: Colombia. International Renewable Energy Agency_. 2019.

6 OEC. Colombia Country profile. Country economic profile (2021).

7 Ministerio de Minas y Energia & UPME. Balance energetico colombiano. (2022).

8 Bnamericas. Colombia presenta plan de expansion energetica a largo plazo. Bnamericas (2021).

9 IRENA. Scaling Up Renewable Energy Investment in Colombia. (2020).

10 IRENA. Renewable energy auctions in Colombia: Context, design and results. International Renewable Energy Agency. (2021).

11 Ministerio de Minas y Energia. Nueva Subasta de Energias Renovables en Colombia . (2021).

12 IEA. Colombia Country Profile: Total energy supply (TES) by source, 1990-2018. (2018).

13 Groot, K. de, Vega, C. B.- & Juarez-Lucas, A. Turning the Tide: Improving Water Security for Recovery and Sustainable Growth in Colombia. World Bank 36 (2020).

14 Climate Action Tracker. Climate Target Update Tracker: Colombia. Climate Action Tracker (2020).

15 Gobierno de Colombia. Contribución Prevista Determinada a Nivel Nacional de la República de Colombia. (2020).

16 MinMinas & Gobierno de Colombia. Plan Integral de Gestión del Cambio Climático / Sector Minero Energético. (2018).

17 Gobierno de Colombia- MinAmbiente. Estrategia Nacional de Movilidad Eléctrica. (2019).

18 Ministerio de Vivienda Colombia. Resolución 0549 del 10 Julio de 2015. 1–10 Preprint at ismd.com.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Resoluci%C3%B3n-549-de-2015.pdf (2015).

19 Ministerio de Vivienda Colombia. PLAN INTEGRAL DE GESTIÓN DEL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO SECTORIAL: Sectora de Vivienda, Ciudad y Territorio. (2020).

20 Gobierno de Colombia. Ley de Accion Climatica N°2169/2021. (2021).

21 Gobierno de Colombia. Contribución Prevista Determinada a Nivel Nacional de la República de Colombia. (2020).

22 Climate Transparency. CLIMATE TRANSPARENCY REPORT: COLOMBIA’S CLIMATE ACTION AND RESPONSES TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS. (2020).

23 Sánchez Molina, P. Colombia ratifica su intención de alcanzar 1.500 MW renovables instalados en 2022. PV Magazine Latin America (2019).

24 Volcovici, V. Latin America pledges 70% renewable energy, surpassing EU: Colombia minister. Reuters (2019).

25 Gobierno de Colombia. Hoja de Ruta Nacional de edificaciones Neto Cero Carbono. (2022).

26 Guerra, E. & Guillén, J. Leyes de Eficiencia Energética en Latinoamérica y el Caribe. (2021).

27 Gütschow, J. et al. The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series. Earth System Science Data vol. 8 (2016).

28 IDEAM Government of Colombia. TERCER INFORME BIENAL DE ACTUALIZACIÓN DE CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO DE COLOMBIA. (2021). www.cancilleria.gov.co/cambio-climatico-0

29 IDEAM, F. N. P. M. D. C. Third Biennial Update Report of Colombia BUR3. (2021).

30 Ministerio de Energia. Plan Energetico Nacional 2020-2050. (2019).

31 While global cost-effective pathways assessed by the IPCC Special Report 1.5°C provide useful guidance for an upper-limit of emissions trajectories for developed countries, they underestimate the feasible space for such countries to reach net zero earlier. The current generation of models tend to depend strongly on land-use sinks outside of currently developed countries and include fossil fuel use well beyond the time at which these could be phased out, compared to what is understood from bottom-up approaches. The scientific teams which provide these global pathways constantly improve the technologies represented in their models – and novel CDR technologies are now being included in new studies focused on deep mitigation scenarios meeting the Paris Agreement. A wide assessment database of these new scenarios is not yet available; thus, we rely on available scenarios which focus particularly on BECCS as a net-negative emission technology. Accordingly, we do not yet consider land-sector emissions (LULUCF) and other CDR approaches.

32 In some of the analysed pathways, the energy sector assumes already a certain amount of carbon dioxide removal technologies, in this case bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

Colombiaʼs energy mix in the buildings sector

petajoule per year

Scaling
SSP1 Low CDR reliance
2019203020402050400600
Low energy demand
2019203020402050400600
  • Natural gas
  • Coal
  • Oil and e-fuels
  • Biofuel
  • Biogas
  • Biomass
  • Hydrogen
  • Electricity
  • Heat

Colombiaʼs buildings sector direct CO₂ emissions (of energy demand)

MtCO₂/yr

Unit
12345619902010203020502070
  • Historical emissions
  • Low energy demand
  • SSP1 Low CDR reliance

1.5°C compatible buildings sector benchmarks

Direct CO₂ emissions and shares of electricity, heat and biomass in the buildings final energy demand from illustrative 1.5°C pathways for Colombia

Indicator
2019
2030
2040
2050
Decarbonised buildings sector by
Direct CO₂ emissions
MtCO₂/yr
5
2 to 4
0 to 1
0
2030 to 2040
Relative to reference year in %
−65 to −12%
−97 to −71%
−100 to −94%
Indicator
2019
2030
2040
2050
Share of electricity
Percent
45
73 to 78
83 to 92
90 to 95
Share of heat
Percent
0
0
0 to 1
1 to 2
Share of hydrogen
Percent
0
0
0
0 to 1

Footnotes