Beyond Gas: The future of Colombia’s energy transition

At the end of 2022, the Government of Colombia announced its commitment to not grant any new licences for oil and gas exploration. This political will is also behind Colombia’s decision in August 2023 to join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) as a Friend of BOGA.

These decisions have sparked important debates in the country, both from an energy and economic security perspective, with some discussions focused on the role of ongoing exploration of existing gas reserves and others on the ongoing characterization of fossil gas as clean fuel.

To address the intensifying global climate crisis, gas needs to be phased out as quickly as possible. While it is evident that gas will continue to be present in Colombia’s energy matrix in the coming years, it is essential for the country not to deepen its dependence by developing new gas fields and to promote its phase-out by deploying alternatives that are already competitive.

This webinar questions some of the narratives in favour of gas extraction and discusses various arguments around the need to phase out fossil fuels, including gas. This is a fundamental discussion for Colombia, which aims to become a global leader in building a public policy for fossil fuels phase-outs.