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Building consensus with implementing institutions and capacity-building within national entities are key to realising Colombia’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant targets set out in the country’s 2020 Nationally Determined Contributions.
Short Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) contribute to global temperature increases and air pollution: they are both an environmental and public health issue. However, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) often omit the importance of reducing SLCPs as a way of meeting climate change commitments. Colombia’s 2020 NDC, however, took a different approach: SLCP mitigation targets are built into the country’s climate change goals. The authors defined Colombia’s programme as ambitious because NDCs do not explicitly require SLCP reduction targets.
Colombia’s 2020 NDC includes a separate goal for black carbon emissions: Colombia aims to reduce these by 40% by 2030 compared to 2014 levels. This commitment is one of the most ambitious within NDCs globally, reflecting a desire not only to address climate change, but also air pollution and public health.
Rush hour traffic in Bogotá. Transport is one of the main black carbon emitting sectors.
These bold targets were made possible thanks to Colombia’s National SLCP Strategy, which was produced before the 2020 NDC. Through a four-year process, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia collaborated with stakeholders working in a wide variety of sectors to develop the strategy, including not only civil society and NGOs, but also the major source sectors emitting SLCPs, greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. By working collaboratively and openly with those who would be involved in implementing the strategy, the Ministry of Environment was better able to gain consensus for the suggested targets. This process also enabled the ministry to identify where capacity-building was needed to implement the goals more effectively, especially with regard to assessing and reducing black carbon emissions.
By building consensus and consistency in the development of the National SLCP Strategy, the Ministry of Environment was able to include potential black carbon targets in the NDC based on specific mitigation measures.
The authors concluded that other countries could take two key lessons from Colombia’s experience of including SLCP targets in their NDCs:
Initiative / This initiative enables integrated national planning for Nationally Determined Contributions and Sustainable Development Goals.
Perspective / Collective action is needed to improve air quality in Latin American and the Caribbean. This perspective highlights trends and priorities for the region.
Feature / SEI and Bogotá’s environment agency are collaborating on an approach to reduce black carbon.
Other publication / Researchers at SEI York and SEI Asia have supported Thailand's Pollution Control Department to identify integrated policies for climate change and air quality.
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