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The document serves as a toolkit for the press to evaluate the environmental proposals of Colombian presidential candidates. It identifies critical areas of concern—including deforestation, climate change, energy transition, and marine conservation—and provides data-driven contexts and specific lines of inquiry to ensure candidates are held accountable to national and international commitments.

The report assesses the current state of energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean, identifying gaps in energy efficiency, electrification, and the adoption of low-carbon technologies like hydrogen and CCUS. It highlights the region's strong baseline in renewable electricity, primarily from hydropower, while emphasizing the need for more aggressive long-term targets and climate adaptation strategies to protect energy infrastructure from extreme weather.

The policy brief argues that most recovery packages in Latin America and the Caribbean are 'inertial' and environmentally negative, prioritizing short-term economic growth over long-term climate sustainability. It highlights a significant gap between national climate commitments (NDCs) and actual recovery spending, noting a trend toward fossil fuel subsidies and increased deforestation. The document recommends integrating social justice, gender equity, and systemic resilience into recovery plans, while urging governments to adopt green taxonomies and align financial incentives with the 1.5°C goal.

The document is a glossary accompanying a technical report by Transforma and WWF. It defines key energy and climate terms relevant to Colombia's path to net-zero emissions by 2050, covering categories such as bioenergy, hydrogen types, renewable energy sources, and carbon capture technologies.

The report finds a nascent process of alignment in Colombia, where progress in green bond issuance and renewable energy auctions is offset by significant continued investment in fossil fuels and high deforestation rates. While the government has established frameworks like the Climate Change Law (2018) and a Carbon Tax, public spending remains heavily skewed toward the energy and mining sectors. Private financial flows are largely inconsistent with climate goals, with carbon-related assets dominating the listed equity market and insurance portfolios. The authors recommend a just transition that redirects fossil fuel subsidies toward renewables and enhances the use of green taxonomies to improve transparency.

The document analyzes the labor market crisis in Latin America exacerbated by COVID-19, highlighting the vulnerability of women, youth, and informal workers. It argues that the region's dependence on primary exports and low economic complexity increase its vulnerability to external shocks. To address this, the brief recommends transitioning toward 'green jobs' and a more complex productive matrix. Key proposals include investing in energy-efficient housing, nature-based solutions, female labor inclusion, digitalization to reduce informality, and aligning education with the requirements of a carbon-neutral economy.

The document analyzes the economic dependence of Colombia and its producing regions on coal, highlighting the vulnerability of public finances to declining international demand and the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the General Royalty System (SGR) and projects that despite recent legal reforms to increase direct allocations to producing regions, the downward trend in coal production will lead to significant losses in royalty revenues for departments like Cesar and La Guajira by 2030.

The document analyzes the risks associated with Colombia's dependence on thermal coal exports amidst declining global demand and proposes a transition strategy based on economic diversification and social equity. It highlights the severe poverty and environmental degradation in the Cesar and La Guajira regions, where coal mining contributes significantly to regional GDP but provides limited local employment. The brief recommends shifting from carbon-intensive industrialization to low-carbon asset diversification, implementing active labor policies, and establishing mechanisms to quantify and repair socio-environmental liabilities. It critiques current government strategies, such as 'neutral coal,' for extending the life of a declining sector rather than accelerating decarbonization.

The document argues that Colombia has the technical and economic capacity to phase out coal-fired power generation by leveraging its high hydroelectric capacity and expanding non-conventional renewable energy sources. It notes that most existing coal plants are obsolete, with an average age of 34 years, and that new coal projects are largely stalled due to financial and social opposition. The brief highlights a complementarity between hydroelectricity and renewables (solar and wind) that can ensure energy security during droughts, reducing the need for fossil fuel backups. It also warns that relying on natural gas as a transition fuel is risky due to limited national reserves, estimated to last only about eight years. The report recommends that the Colombian government lead the transition by abandoning coal generation and promoting a diversified, carbon-neutral electricity sector by 2050.

Colombia is the world's sixth-largest coal exporter, with the sector contributing approximately 1.1% of the national GDP and providing significant royalties. However, the global market is contracting as major importers in the Atlantic and Americas markets set phase-out dates for coal-fired power. While some industry associations suggest expanding into Pacific markets like China and India, high freight costs and those countries' own goals for carbon neutrality make this difficult. The Colombian government has historically supported the sector through various tax exemptions and incentives, such as the Plan Vallejo and Tax Refund Certificates. The report argues that Colombia must urgently diversify its economy and implement a just transition to mitigate the socio-economic risks of a structural decline in coal demand.

The document examines the Colombian financial sector's integration of climate change into decision-making, highlighting that while some green finance initiatives exist, most private flows remain inconsistent with a low-carbon economy. It identifies significant risks of 'stranded assets' in Colombia's coal mining and power sectors, citing the cases of Prodeco and Cerrejón. The brief argues that financial institutions must move beyond symbolic commitments to tangible phase-out plans and provides examples of international banking policies that restrict coal financing to guide the Colombian sector toward a just transition.

The policy brief analyzes the socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities of Latin America exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that traditional economic reactivation measures risk perpetuating structural crises and instead proposes a 'just and resilient recovery' based on four principles: climate action, decent employment, social inclusion, and long-term financing. The document outlines four priorities for governments: applying the 'no-regression' principle to avoid environmental deregulation, ensuring short-term measures align with long-term sustainability, maximizing investment in strategic sustainable sectors (such as renewable energy and regenerative agriculture), and increasing systemic resilience through economic diversification and new progress indicators beyond GDP.

The document examines the role of climate finance in Mexico, highlighting the risks posed by the elimination of the Fondo para el Cambio Climático (FCC) and the heavy concentration of public funds in the energy sector via the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). It provides specific recommendations for the public sector to strengthen governance and technical capacity, and for the private sector to adopt green taxonomies and innovative financing mechanisms like impact investing and carbon bonds to meet Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The document argues that Mexico's food systems can drive a just recovery by integrating sustainable practices in the primary sector, shortening distribution chains, and improving public nutrition. It highlights the vulnerability of the sector to the climate crisis and the exacerbation of food insecurity and malnutrition caused by the pandemic. Key recommendations include reorienting agricultural subsidies toward crop diversification, implementing sustainability certifications for exporters, supporting small and medium producers with organic fertilizers and digital commerce, and aligning public food procurement with nutritional health standards.

The report establishes that gender equality is both a co-benefit of and a tool for effective climate policy. Through an analysis of the Colombian coal sector, it finds that current climate and energy policies are largely gender-blind or rely on stereotypes, while gender policies often ignore the climate crisis. Field research reveals that while women—particularly Indigenous and Afro-Colombian women—are active grassroots leaders in defending their territories, they are structurally excluded from formal decision-making. The authors propose a GRCP that incorporates intersectionality, local expertise, and a 'just transition' framework to ensure that the phase-out of coal does not reproduce existing social inequalities.

The report evaluates Colombia's departmental energy performance using a trilemma framework. It finds that while regions like Antioquia and Boyacá excel in energy security due to hydroelectric and thermal resources, significant gaps persist in energy equity between the National Interconnected System (SIN) and Non-Interconnected Zones (ZNI). Environmental sustainability is hindered by a reliance on fossil fuels, particularly gas and coal in departments like Atlántico and La Guajira, while non-conventional renewable energy sources (FNCER) remain underutilized.

The document argues that scientific stations cannot be 100% financially self-sufficient and must combine 'Investigative Scientific Tourism' with 'Amateur Scientific Tourism' to achieve holistic sustainability. Using the OET stations in Costa Rica (La Selva and Las Cruces), it proposes a target visitor mix of 40% researchers and 60% high-paying amateurs to maximize revenue and reduce seasonality. Key recommendations include territorial zoning to separate researchers from tourists, implementing differentiated pricing, and establishing university consortia to ensure a steady flow of students and institutional funding.

The financial reports for Transforma in 2017 show a significant increase in total assets from 400,000 to 42,127,339 pesos. The organization recorded operational income of 88,000,000 pesos from consultancies, resulting in a net surplus for the exercise of 21,173,555 pesos. Total liabilities rose to 20,553,784 pesos, primarily driven by costs, expenses, and taxes payable.

The policy brief argues that Colombia's current climate-financial governance is limited to acute physical risks and the redirection of capital, leaving a gap in the management of chronic physical and transition risks. It proposes a roadmap based on the Helsinki Principles and international best practices from countries like China and Chile to integrate climate risks into the mandates of the Ministry of Finance and Credit and the Financial Superintendence of Colombia. The proposed roadmap consists of four components: institutional coordination, climate risk management, financial instruments and markets, and monitoring mechanisms.

The document analyzes the socio-economic dependence of Barrancabermeja on the oil industry and explores pathways for economic diversification to mitigate the risks of the energy transition. It identifies key opportunities in regenerative agriculture, low-emission hydrogen, and carbon capture, while warning that abrupt reductions in oil production could destabilize the local economy.