Colombia's climate architecture runs through two framework statutes: Ley 1931 de 2018, which sets guiding directives, including self-management, coordination, co-responsibility and gradualism, binding national, departmental and municipal public and private decisions on adaptation and mitigation, and Ley 2169 de 2021, the Ley de Acción Climática, which commits Colombia to carbon neutrality by 2050 and names all national and territorial public entities as co-responsible for meeting that target. Its NDC 3.0, "Transformaciones para la Vida," submitted to the UNFCCC on 19 December 2025, ratifies its 2030 commitment and sets the pathway to 2050 as a 90% gross emissions reduction against 2015, with the remaining 10% offset by absorptions. Colombia's long-term strategy, the Estrategia Climática de Largo Plazo (E2050), was filed with the UNFCCC in November 2021. Colombia runs a national carbon tax with a non-causation mechanism (Decreto 926 de 2017) letting taxpayers offset the tax by buying verified credits, tracked through RENARE, the national GHG-reduction registry established under Resolución 1447 de 2018 and re-administered under Resolución 418 de 2024, which also carries Colombia's REDD+ programme and project registry as a nesting mechanism to prevent double counting.
Projects
Bogotá electric bus fleet and La Rolita
Bogotá's electric buses on TransMilenio and the SITP network, including La Rolita, the city's own all-electric public operator.
Brujula Verde
High-integrity savanna restoration in the Colombian Orinoco
Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor REDD+ Project
The first conservation project in the world to receive carbon credits for protecting community-owned forest.
Guagua Fontibón Electric Bus Project
401 electric buses operating along ten routes through Bogotá's Fontibón and Usme districts.
Introduction of the recovery and combustion of methane at the Cañaveralejo Wastewater Treatment Plant
Methane recovery and combustion in the sludge treatment system of Cali's municipal wastewater plant.
Medellín Green Corridors
Medellín's network of planted corridors along roads, streams and hills, run by the city to cool streets, clean air and reconnect urban wildlife.
Project Yopo
A planned native-forest restoration project in Vichada, co-developed by aDryada and BaumInvest.
Selva de Mataven REDD+
Indigenous-led avoided-deforestation across a unified reserve in the Orinoco-Amazon transition.
Shangri-La Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant
A 201 MWp solar plant in Tolima department expected to power about 214,000 homes a year.
Vida Manglar
The first VCS blue-carbon credits under Verra's tidal-wetland modules, conserving Cispatá Bay.
Visión Amazonía
A government-to-government results-based REDD+ mechanism covering the Colombian Amazon.
Regulation
Framework law
"establecer las directrices para la gestión del cambio climático en las decisiones de las personas públicas y privadas" … "una economía competitiva, sustentable y un desarrollo bajo en carbono" — Artículo 1°Artículo 1°
Sets guiding directives (self-management, coordination, co-responsibility, gradualism, etc.) binding national/departmental/municipal public and private decisions on adaptation and GHG mitigation, aiming at low-carbon, climate-resilient development.
Issuing body: Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible · Corroborated
NDC
"Alcanzar la carbono neutralidad en 2050, reduciendo en un 90% las emisiones frente a 2015 y compensando el 10% restante con absorciones."NDC 3.0 headline mitigation target section
Ratifies the 2030 target from NDC 2.0 and sets the pathway to 2050: 90% gross emissions reduction vs. 2015, remaining 10% offset by absorptions/removals.
Issuing body: Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible · Corroborated
Carbon market
"reglamenta el sistema de monitoreo, reporte y verificación de las acciones de mitigación a nivel nacional de que trata el artículo 175 de la Ley 1753 de 2015" — Resolución 1447/2018 title clauseResolución 1447 de 2018, considerandos/título
Establishes the national MRV system for mitigation actions, the GHG-reduction accounting system, and the national registry (RENARE) that also carries the REDD+ programme/project registry; underlies Colombia's carbon-tax non-causation mechanism (Decreto 926/2017) allowing offset purchase to avoid the national carbon tax.
Issuing body: Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible / IDEAM · Corroborated
Forest / REDD+
"Por la cual se reglamenta el sistema de monitoreo, reporte y verificación de las acciones de mitigación a nivel nacional de que trata el artículo 175 de la Ley 1753 de 2015, y se dictan otras disposiciones" / "Créase el Registro Nacional de Reducción de las Emisiones de Gases de Efecto Invernadero (GEI), del cual hará parte el Registro Nacional de Programas y Proyectos de acciones para la Reducción de las Emisiones debidas a la Deforestación y la Degradación Forestal de Colombia (REDD+)."title of the resolution, p.1; considerandos quoting Art. 175 of Ley 1753 de 2015, p.2 (signed scan); amendment per the Ministry's register entry for Resolución 0831 de 2020; Consejo de Estado, Sección Primera, expediente 11001-0324-000-2019-00423-00, auto of 30 September 2021
Regulates Colombia's national MRV system for mitigation actions under Art. 175 of Ley 1753 of 2015, including the national greenhouse gas emission reduction registry and its REDD+ programmes and projects registry; amended in 2020, and a court challenge to the five-year limit on reporting and cancelling mitigation results did not suspend it.
Issuing body: Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible · Corroborated
Net-zero / LTS
"establecer metas y medidas mínimas para alcanzar la carbono neutralidad, la resiliencia climática y el desarrollo bajo en carbono en el país en el corto, mediano y largo plazo"Artículo 1° (objeto)
Commits Colombia to carbon neutrality by 2050 (zero net anthropogenic GHG balance); binds all national public entities and territorial entities as co-responsible for the targets/measures it sets.
Issuing body: Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible · Corroborated
"instrumento de política de Estado que orientará las acciones nacionales, sectoriales y territoriales para construir un futuro resiliente al clima en Colombia, expresado en carbono-neutralidad de la economía y la adaptación de largo plazo"
Colombia's UNFCCC-filed long-term strategy projecting the pathway to 2050 carbon neutrality and climate resilience; developed with French cooperation (AFD/Expertise France).
Issuing body: Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible · Corroborated