Reality is stubborn, implacable and sometimes devastating. The national government is living it in its own flesh. The different measures taken in the first year of its term within the mining and energy sector, orbited within an ideological balloon whose fuel were the visions oriented to seek echo in international platforms as global representatives of planetary preservation, being a country that contributes much less than 1% of the world’s carbon emissions.

Proof of this is the inexplicable position of canceling exploration in new oil contracts, the tax increase on mining and energy income, the blind bet without damage assessment calculations on the so-called Just Energy Transition, the increase in gasoline prices, the limitations on open-pit coal mining and, in general, the different governmental opinions against the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources that offer fossil fuels.

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However, the official results of this cocktail produced what many of us predicted and was clearly inevitable. In the first instance, a significant reduction in oil revenues (Ecopetrol reported a 61% drop in profits).

Secondly, an increase in social conflict in the producing regions, which, according to the Colombian Oil and Gas Association (ACP), has registered an average of 2.9 blockades per day, with 67% of all of them in hydrocarbon producing areas.

Third, a low execution of renewable energy projects. Fourth, a deterioration in the public-private relationship for the development of clean energy generation projects and, fifth, a null execution of new port and road infrastructure in the areas with the greatest potential for wind and/or photovoltaic energy generation.

They are nuancing the initial discourse and forcing (apparently) a change of direction to the National Government.

The change in the leadership of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, although it has not been forceful in establishing the exploration of hydrocarbons through new exploration contracts, has at least understood that it is with new reserves and hand in hand with the oil and gas industry that a strategy of change in the national energy matrix can be articulated.

Aiming for a Just Energy Transition by sustaining hydrocarbon exploration to maintain and/or increase its reserves, thus guaranteeing the financial resources to finance its development, maintain healthy state finances and encourage the participation of the oil industry in research, development, investment, implementation and exploitation of renewable energies within the national territory, is definitely a positive strategy for the country.

It is essential to migrate the global energy matrix with clean energies in order to decarbonize the planet’s atmosphere. This commitment is nowadays in all the agendas of developed, developing and even underdeveloped countries.

An example of the former is China. According to the CGTN portal (see link here), by the end of 2021, the cumulative installed renewable energy generation capacity reached 1,060 gigawatts, representing 44.8% of the country’s total installed energy capacity.

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To put it in figures, China generated 2.49 trillion kWh of electricity from renewable energy in 2021, representing about 30% of the country’s total electricity consumption. However, according to the Mining Country portal (see link here), coal production in China increased by 9% to 4.5 million tons last year. The Asian country approved to increase 50 gigawatts generated by coal in the first half of 2023.

Reality is showing the way. The world powers are the ones called to drastically reduce their carbon footprints because of their high emissions and real and relevant impact on the planet’s climate change.

A review of the global figures for renewable energy production shows that the major emitters of greenhouse gases are making progress (see graph).

Ranking of the main renewable energy consuming countries in 2022 (in exajoules)

Source: https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/634778/paises-lideres-en-el-consumo-de-energia-renovable/

However, both China and the USA sustain investments in exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels based on the need to protect the energy requirements of their populations to sustain their economies.

It is also important to note that Latin America contributes to carbon emissions more through the deforestation of its forests than through its incipient industrial development.

This aspect, according to the conclusions of the Amazon Summit in Belém do Pará, did not have a representative and forceful agreement. Colombia advocated the elimination of oil, gas and coal exploitation from the Amazon and, ultimately, from Latin American economies.

Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname and Ecuador did not support such a premise, Brazil being its most fierce opponent. However, it is interesting to see that Brazil is the third country in the world consuming renewable energy after China and the United States (2.53 Hexajoules – see graph).

Colombia has to move from the discourse to doing its homework in terms of energy transition. The barriers in infrastructure, in scenarios that motivate foreign direct investment for large-scale projects and in the implementation of public policies focused on the development of renewable energies, do not have the best indicators.

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