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This week, world leaders are in Brazil for the annual U.N. climate conference to talk about how to cut planet-heating emissions. Scientists say a key way is for some fossil fuel-producing countries to stop exploring for new fossil fuels. One country's government decided to do just that - Colombia. NPR's Julia Simon went there to learn more.
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JULIA SIMON, BYLINE: In a fishing village on Colombia's Caribbean coast, music plays in cafes lining the beach.
It is cooler by the sea, where the wind blows through the trees.
Out past the fishing boats, out in the turquoise sea, oil companies found deep water natural gas and planned to drill gas wells there. Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, wants those wells to be among the country's last. Colombia is the biggest coal producer in South America and one of the region's largest oil producers, and President Petro is one of the world's most outspoken leaders on climate change. Two years ago, at the U.N. climate conference, Petro took the stage and said this.
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PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO: (Speaking Spanish).
SIMON: "Colombia," he says, "has stopped signing exploration contracts for coal, oil and gas." This was a big deal. Stopping new exploration for fossil fuels is a key way to transition away from fossil fuels. Now the question is, how is Colombia's energy transition playing out?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
SIMON: OK.
To find out, I went to a leafy neighborhood in central Bogota, in the high-rise office of Colombia's national oil company, Ecopetrol. There I met...
JULIAN LEMOS: Julian Lemos.
SIMON: ...Corporate vice president of strategy and new business. Lemos says the oil company is diversifying. Ecopetrol has acquired an electricity transmission company, more solar and wind projects, and they're investing in geothermal, drilling deep into the Earth to create electricity.
LEMOS: The hydrocarbon business will remain as part of our company, but we will gradually increase the participation of businesses that are not related to crude oil, such as renewable power transmission.
SIMON: Energy experts say this isn't just a good move for the climate. It's a good move for Colombia's economy. Colombia has manufacturing, tourism and agriculture, but the government is still very reliant on the oil and coal sectors for revenues. Ana Carolina Gonzalez Espinosa, at the nonprofit Natural Resource Governance Institute, says as Colombia's oil reserves shrink and demand for oil and coal eventually fall, that will be a problem.
ANA CAROLINA GONZALEZ ESPINOSA: If we don't think about how we'll diversify the economy, then we are going to be in trouble.
SIMON: Key to diversifying the energy sector is solar and wind. Solar, in particular, is growing - both large-scale and small-scale projects for communities lacking electricity. But the sector has problems too. In some parts of Colombia, the grid still isn't big enough to handle all the new solar and wind. Many projects are on land belonging to Indigenous communities. The government and private sector still haven't done enough to involve them in planning, says Margarita Nieves, a renewable energy researcher. She says some renewable developers have left.
MARGARITA NIEVES: Each project has its own challenges.
SIMON: Petro's term ends in 2026, and that raises another question. Will his energy policies outlast him? Petro's government hasn't awarded new licenses to explore for fossil fuels, but this isn't signed into law. A new, right-wing government could change gears and bring in more companies to explore for coal, oil and gas. So is Colombia's energy transition story a happy one? Gonzalez Espinosa has thoughts.
GONZALEZ ESPINOSA: It is not a happy story. It is not a sad story. It's just a real story.
SIMON: Julia Simon, NPR News, Bogota, Colombia.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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