Transiciones justas del carbón en Colombia

The document identifies significant obstacles to Colombia's thermal coal transition, including high fiscal dependence on coal exports, limited subnational institutional capacity, and insufficient environmental regulations for mine closures. It highlights the vulnerability of the Cesar and La Guajira regions, where coal represents a major share of departmental income and employment. The brief argues that a just transition requires strengthening local governance, establishing a permanent transition fund, and ensuring inclusive planning that protects marginalized groups and the civic space.

• Coal exports are a critical source of national revenue, contributing 2.4% of total fiscal income, with coal royalties accounting for over 80% of all mining sector royalties.
• Regional fiscal dependence on coal is extreme in Cesar and La Guajira, where coal represented nearly 43% and 61% of departmental revenues, respectively, for 2019-2020. Some municipalities, such as Becerril, derived up to 79% of their 2021 budgets from coal royalties.
• The coal sector is a vital employer in specific municipalities; in 2020, three mining companies in Cesar and La Guajira directly employed 13,559 people, representing about 38% of all coal mining employment in Colombia.
• Local and regional governments lack the institutional capacity and financial mechanisms to manage the transition, which is exacerbated by corruption and the low impact of previous royalty investments on poverty reduction.
• Environmental regulations for mine closures are insufficient, often only covering three-year periods, which leaves long-term environmental liabilities unaddressed.
• Sociocultural barriers include high levels of violence, human rights violations, and a fragile civic space, which hinder community cohesion and political participation in transition planning.
• Marginalized groups, including Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, are frequently excluded from post-coal planning, and their specific worldviews and rights to prior consultation are often ignored.
• Colombia is the only country among the three studied (alongside Indonesia and South Africa) that does not have a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) for bilateral cooperation.

APA

Arond, E., Vega-Araújo, J., Niño, J. P., & Patzy, F. (2025). Transiciones justas del carbón en Colombia. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/coal-transition-colombia-sei2025.pdf

Chicago

Arond, Elisa, José Vega-Araújo, Juliana Peña Niño, and Fernando Patzy. Transiciones justas del carbón en Colombia. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2025. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/coal-transition-colombia-sei2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Arond |first1=Elisa |last2=Vega-Araújo |first2=José |last3=Niño |first3=Juliana Peña |last4=Patzy |first4=Fernando |title=Transiciones justas del carbón en Colombia |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=February 2025 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/coal-transition-colombia-sei2025.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{arond2025transiciones, author = {Arond, Elisa and Vega-Araújo, José and Niño, Juliana Peña and Patzy, Fernando}, title = {{Transiciones justas del carbón en Colombia}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/coal-transition-colombia-sei2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }