Welcome to the Earth.Org Global Sustainability Index, where Earth.Org examines the policies and actions regarding the environment of every nation on earth. Combining the most respected global indexes on pollution, climate change, policy, energy, oceans, biodiversity we have produced an overall Global Index, which will be updated annually. This is the Global Sustainability Index Scorecard for Colombia.
Colombia has committed to reduce emissions by 20% by 2030, with plans focusing on tackling deforestation, increasing energy efficiency, creating sources of renewable energy and upgrading public transport buses with hybrid vehicles. The government also suspended the aerial spraying of glyphosate to kill coca plantations.
Most Colombians reside in the elevated Andes, where water shortages and land degradation exist, and in the coastal areas, where sea level rise and floods can impact human settlements and economic activities. Temperature increases and changes in precipitation patterns will likely lead to water shortages in Colombia, which will impact agriculture, human health and sectors such as hydropower that rely on a consistent water supply. Sea level rise is likely to have localised impacts, with significant effects in cities like Cartagena that rely on tourism and it will also lead to the loss of key ecosystems such as coral reefs and fisheries.
- Colombia is highly vulnerable to climate change, with the majority of people living in the Andes subject to water shortages, and those at sea level threatened by floods.
- The many social conflicts and inequalities make it difficult to implement measures, and yet all the more critical.
- Despite an effort to “mainstream climate change” in Colombia, led by the Inter-agency Group on Climate Change (IGCC), few actual policies and laws have been implemented.
* Our Climate Change Ranking considers this country’s efforts toward climate change insufficient and thus has not ranked it.
You might also like: Global Emissions (2016)
References:
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Biodiversity, Policy: Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G. (2019): Sustainable Development Report 2019. New York: Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
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Oceans: Halpern, Benjamin S., et al. “An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean.” Nature 488.7413 (2012): 615-620.
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Pollution: Wendling, Z. A., Emerson, J. W., Esty, D. C., Levy, M. A., de Sherbinin, A., et al. (2018). 2018 Environmental Performance Index. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. https://epi.yale.edu/
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Climate Change: Climate Change Performance Index; Jan Burck, Ursula Hagen, Niklas Höhne, Leonardo Nascimento, Christoph Bals, ISBN 978-3-943704-75-4, 2019
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Energy: Enerdata –World Energy Statistics – Yearbook.
World Energy Statistics
