Investment

Colombia has prioritised the use of renewable energy to expand and improve electricity services for its population in zones non-interconnected to the national grid. Recent policies and regulations have supported this ambition with successive measures to strengthen investment conditions for distributed renewable energy, like standalone solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions and hybrid solar PV mini-grids. Still, the distributed renewable energy market in non-interconnected zones is relatively immature, reflected by the high costs for connecting new users. New business and financing models will be critical to bringing down the cost of renewable energy technologies, accessing private equity and debt in larger volumes, and ultimately progressing towards replacing existing inefficient and polluting diesel generation systems. Building on international experiences, this paper discusses approaches to strengthening investment conditions, looking at support mechanisms and de-risking instruments used elsewhere, which can help bridge the financing gap in Colombia.

To realise Colombia’s clean energy ambitions and enable the necessary mobilisation of finance and investment, the government has set forth a number of important policy strategies, including the 2018 Green Growth Policy, the 2019 National Circular Economy Strategy and the forthcoming 2022 Energy Transition Policy. These high-level policies all note the role clean energy solutions like sustainable bioenergy and waste-to-energy can play in supporting decarbonisation objectives. These solutions can also achieve a number of other socioeconomic ambitions, including improved reliability of energy supply, improved access to affordable and reliable energy in areas that are not connected to the national electricity grid, and reduced amounts of waste going to capacity-limited landfills. This report aims to support Colombia’s renewable energy ambitions, focusing on current clean energy trends, opportunities for bioenergy and measures that can increase finance and investment in those solutions. Through five case studies from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India and Turkey, the report also considers the enabling environment and lessons learnt from bioenergy developments in different countries.

This study examines the multi-level governance framework for public investment in Colombia. It provides a diagnosis of the strengths and challenges of the Colombian system and includes comparative data and a set of benchmarks to promote exchange of good practices and promote learning. It makes recommendations for how to further improve the system, make more effective use of existing resources and catch up to OECD countries in terms of infrastructure development . The review also suggests a set of indicators against which Colombia can measure its progress.

This Investment Policy Review examines Colombia's achievements in developing an open and transparent investment regime and its efforts to reduce restrictions on international investment. The Review  shows  that, in the past few years, Colombia has made tremendous progress in promoting investment liberalisation and improving its investment policy framework. Colombia has also recently undertaken important policy reforms in many of the areas covered by the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, including human rights, labour issues and bribery. In recognition of its progress in pursuing policy reforms to promote investment liberalisation and improving the business climate, Colombia became the 43rd country to adhere to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. As an adherent to the Declaration, Colombia commits to providing national treatment to foreign investors and to promoting responsible business conduct, in line with the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. In turn, the country benefits from similar assurances from other adherents to treat Colombian investors fairly.