Market Readiness Programme Colombia

Start & End Date: 2014-Ongoing

Country/Countries: Colombia

Multilateral Institution(s) Involved: World Bank

Colombia generates 0.42 percent of global GHG emissions, ranking 40th among 184 countries monitored by the World Resources Institute. While the current total contribution is relatively low, Colombian GHG emissions grew 15 percent between 1990 and 2012, propelled by the trends in manufacturing (94 percent increase), mining and energy (85 percent increase), and transport (53 percent increase). Current emissions are concentrated both geographically, with 10 regions out of 32 accounting for 59 percent of the total, and by sector, with 55 percent of absolute emissions resulting from agriculture, forestry and land use (AFOLU). The country has an ambitious environmental policy position that needs to translate into a cleaner economic model to transform the economy and address the challenge of climate change. This transformation will be fundamental for attaining key governmental priorities, including the consolidation of the country as an attractive destination for Foreign Direct Investment in the region and the satisfaction of the environmental demands of its growing middle class.

Colombia has been a leader among middle income countries in developing its climate mitigation policy over the past years. To support this agenda, the government and the World Bank jointly embarked on the Colombia Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) technical assistance project in January 2019. The project aimed to support the government of Colombia in designing an emissions trading system (ETS) and preparing for implementation of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The project, implemented between January 2019 and December 2020, included three components: 1) Inputs into the design of an Emissions Trading System, 2) Planning for implementation of Colombia’s NDC, and 3) Stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and communications.

Observed results confirm the important contribution of this project to the Colombian development and climate policy landscape, developing technical knowledge products, practical tools and capacity building activities that are shaping the design of the national carbon pricing policy mix and informing the ongoing review of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).