The president spoke in CERAWeek, an annual energy conference, on how the country seeks to position itself as a leader in Latin America in the field of energy innovation. This, through a progressive transition that has been taking place in recent years. According to the president, creating a model for other countries in the region.
During his speech, the president showed the Serranía de Chiribiquete National Park, in Guanía, acknowledging that it is the largest in the country and where there is a wide wealth of the Amazon. There he evidenced the natural importance of Colombia, which has the largest number of paramo ecosystems in the world.
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In addition, Colombia is among the top 20 countries that have access to fresh water. Along with this, he highlighted that 70% of our energy comes from generation with water.
“IEven before starting the energy transition, we had one of the cleanest matrixes in Latin America”, he pointed out. However, the president assured that the country has been affected by climate change, being one of the 20 territories in the world that is very vulnerable to this phenomenon.
This was shown by the category 5 hurricane that hit Providence and in which thousands of people lost their homes. “This situation is going to continue to occur due to the increase in temperatures in the world,” said Duque.
Therefore, he emphasized the importance of increase energy production. “A decade ago we only produced 2,000 barrels of oil a day and today we are approaching 1 million barrels a day. We have managed to extend the time horizon of our reserves,” he said.
For Duque, this is one of the main sources of royalties for the communities. It is also an opportunity to increase foreign investment and the capitalization of our markets.
“We have managed to use the wealth of the subsoil to face poverty. Therefore, we must seek to balance the reality of protecting the environment and at the same time maintaining energy sources.”, he pointed out.
For the president, Colombia aims to become a carbon neutral country in 2050 and in reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 51% pby 2030. Added to this is the declaration of 30% of the territory as a protected area.
In this process, the president highlighted three fundamental pillars: energy transition, energy sustainability and improvement in energy use.
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THE ENERGY TRANSITION
“When we started 3 and a half years ago, we barely had 28 megawatts of renewable energy. We decided to increase all non-conventional renewable energies by 50%. That is the reason why we made an automatic VAT discount when bringing technology to the country for this transition. These incentives speed up the process”, he counted.
According to the president, the country has 2,500 megawatts of capacity installed in non-conventional renewable energies. “We have 4,500 megawatts that will be installed through projects that will connect to the electricity grid. This has made Colombia the country to make the fastest transition in Latin America”, he pointed out.
The president assured that the transition is also taking place in the oil industry, specifically due to Ecopetrol and its support for the construction of solar parks. “It was one of the few oil companies that did not go red figures in 2020, but it maintained its profits and in 2021 it obtained the best performance in its history. They are working to be leaders in green hydrogen,” he said.
HYDROGEN
“Oil is not the enemy, emissions are. We have to look for an alternative that generated zero emissions in the oil industryDuke stated. For this reason, the green hydrogen roadmap was recently launched in order for this market to be the largest in the coming years.
Added to this is the sale of electric vehicles. Positioning the country as the largest market in Latin America. “In the pandemic, the sales of these vehicles did not fall, in 2021 they tripled. We have moved at such a pace that we now have the largest electric transportation fleet in the region,” he assured.
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Finally, he stressed that there are regions in Colombia where it is not easy to have a electrical network. For this reason, solar micropanels have been used, managing, according to him, to close 50% of the social gap that this generated.
“We still need the oil and gas sector, but in a sustainable way”, said Ivan Duke.
US SUPPORT
At the event, President Duque also received support from the United States regarding the energy transition that the country is experiencing. Former United States Secretary of State, John Kerry held a meeting with the Colombian president and highlighted the country’s progress in this matter.
“I want to thank all Colombians for embracing the new future; a clean energy future, which will make the world healthier, cleaner and safer for all of usKerry said.
The senior US official stressed that they highly value the actions being carried out in the country and encouraged the private sector to get involved in the goal of zero emissions.
BRIEFCASE
