This Tuesday a new version of the Annual Academic Conference of the Universidad del Rosario was made, the report Economic Outlook for Latin America: towards a green and just transition where the role of the region in the energy transition was explained.
Diego Guevara, General Vice Minister of Finance and Public Credit, and María Lorena Gutiérrez, President of Corficolombiana, participated in the second panel that analyzed this process in the Colombian context in which they discussed Concerns and the role played by the private sector in the country’s energy transition.
(Also read: Latin American Economic Outlook: Towards a green and just transition)
The greatest concern of the private sector in the face of the energy transition
Gutiérrez explained that although we have a challenge in demographic and economic growth that has caused the doubling of carbon emissions, the country has a complicated topography that is prone to natural disastersTherefore, rather than thinking about reducing emissions, the main concern should be “work on mitigation, on the risks of climate change”affirmed the president of Corficolombiana.
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María Lorena Gutiérrez, president of Corficolombiana
Diego Caucayo / Time
Obviously we have to work on emissions, but I think Colombia has a priority on the issue of mitigation
The observation was made given that the poverty rates and the development of the infrastructure that protects the communities are still lacking. “We still have poverty rates and people living in physically unsafe conditions” Gutiérrez explained, adding that we have to work equally on reducing emissions, but the country must have a priority in the matter of risk mitigation.
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Faced with this appreciation The coordinator of the National Development Plan, Carlos Sepúlveda, responded to the president of Corficolombiana that the plan does take risk mitigation into account and understands the dynamics of vulnerability and threat. The coordinator explained that talking about ordering around water is titanic and added that the transition process is not just intentions, but a reality and a global trend. Thus, the government seeks public-private alliances and national agreements.
Other concerns of the private sector regarding the energy transition
With the projections in the development plan for 2040, only 6 percent of our vehicle fleet will be sustainable
The president of Corficolombiana also expressed her concern about the excessive focus of the energy transition on the issue of gas, oil and coal generation. According to Gutierrez, this only accounts for 17 percent of all our problems, and she added that “The biggest problem that the country has is the consumption of fossil fuels”since, by 2050, the transport sector will represent 45 percent of the country’s emissions.
(Read also: Hydrogen, renewable energy and gas, essential in the energy transition)
Carlos Sepúlveda, agreed with these appreciations and exceptional, in addition, that the joint work of the private and public sectors should focus on these problems, however, added the main ones that they already have contemplated addressing the problem of consumption in the transport sector. “The plan has a goal of reaching 2.14 million tons of CO2 mitigated from this sector“said the coordinator and dean.
Emissions from transport will pollute the most in the coming years.
Is the energy transition project viable?
Faced with concerns about the viability of this transition, the General Vice Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Diego Guevara, explained that the project has a transversal axis in economic stability and takes into account all legal and fiscal requirements to develop as quickly as possible within a safe framework that does not affect the national economy.
However, changes are not only required to increase the use of renewable energy, but also in the country’s export system. The vice minister explains that when talking about the energy transition we have to talk about the export transition, where the basket of raw materials and minerals that the country can offer to the world so as not to depend exclusively on oil, gas or coal.
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What the private sector offers to the energy transition
The conversation ended with the locution of María Lorena Gutiérrez explaining what the private sector can offer to the energy transition:
1. Investment in research, innovation and development for the use and implementation of renewable energies.
2. Investment in renewable energy. Starting with encouraging the consumption of renewable energy in offices, companies and industries.
3. Investment in the financial sector with an ESG emphasis. Corficolombiana has the goal that at least 15 percent of its investments will take environmental, social, and governance factors into account.
4. The issuance of social bonds that contribute to job creation, environmental conservation and decrease deforestation.
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