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Colombia Presents a 2030 Green Growth Roadmap

Bogotá, June 14 – The President of the Republic of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, attended a high-level forum, showcasing the results and recommendations of the national Green Growth Taskforce. More than 400 high-level representatives of the government, the private sector, academia and civil society, participated in the forum that included the Taskforce’s presentation of the Long-Term Green Growth Policy, which provided a clear set of sustainable development milestones and action plans to be delivered by 2030.

During the event, President Santos took the opportunity to promote Colombia’s green growth achievements in recent years and explained how they contributed to the country’s accession to the OECD, which was formalized on May 30.

The Green Growth Taskforce was initiated by Colombia’s National Planning Department (NDP) two years ago, and has been led by Mr. Hernando José Gómez, former Director General of NDP. The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) has been a strategic partner throughout the process, along with other international partners, including the Government of Norway, the World Bank, the French Development Agency, KfW, UNEP and the Inter-American Development Bank.

The Green Growth Taskforce involved a series of technical studies in 10 key thematic areas, with contributions of more than 40 national and international experts in topics such as bioeconomy, forestry, renewable energy and energy efficiency, circular economy, efficient use of water, soil productivity, business formalization, human capital, and science, technology and innovation.

Thirty-one workshops engaging more than 1,700 stakeholders were carried out to discuss policy recommendations. Furthermore, a selected group of high-level experts under the Strategic Advisory Committee were assembled in 12 sessions to provide key guidance to the Taskforce.

GGGI’s Green Growth Potential Assessment was utilized to help prioritize key areas of interest that would define the Taskforce’s focus of analysis. GGGI directly supported two technical studies on Forest Economy and Soil Productivity, and contributed to the development of all the other 8 thematic studies. Further, GGGI provided significant input in the drafting and goal-setting of the Long-Term Green Growth Policy document, which serves as a roadmap with recommendations to achieve a sustainable economic development in the long term.

The policy, expected to be adopted by the Government before August 7, will help Colombia advance in consolidating a new economic growth model based on improved competitiveness, social inclusion and the efficient use and protection of Colombia’s natural capital.

Key milestones projected to be achieved by 2030 include: increasing the number of bioeconomy start-ups by 180%; doubling forest GDP to reach 2% of total GDP, expanding the installed capacity of non-conventional renewable energies up to 15%  of total; enlarging the fleet of electric vehicles up to 600,000 (currently there are only 1695); double the recycling rate (currently only 8.6%) and increasing the water productivity of extracted water by 25%.

The approval of the Long Term Green Growth Policy will position Colombia a pathway to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals and meet the country’s Paris Agreement commitments.

About GGGI

Based in Seoul, GGGI is an intergovernmental organization that supports developing country governments transition to a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. GGGI delivers programs in 27 partner countries with technical support, capacity building, policy planning & implementation, and by helping to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects. More on GGGI’s events, projects and publications can be found on www.gggi.org. You can also follow GGGI on Twitter (@GGGI_Colombia; @gggi_hq) and join us on Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Contact:

Carolina Jaramillo
GGGI Country Representative
Bogota, Colombia
carolina.j@gggi.org

Darren Karjama
GGGI Head of Communications
Seoul, Republic of Korea
darren.karama@gggi.org