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00.4 MITIGATION
The planning for mitigation section analyzes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in urban plans, carbon sinks, urban form and GHG in infrastructure and transportation, urban green spaces and their climate services, neighborhood design and energy savings in buildings, and the development process through the lens of mitigation. Forests are an extremely important factor for Colombia and its geography, economy and 20
mitigation efforts. About half (52%) of Colombia’s surface is forests, and the nation contains half of the world’s moorlands. Further, deforestation is Colombia’s largest GHG contributor at 16.68%. Taking these two facts into account, it is not surprising that Colombia focuses a lot of its climate change policies on its forests and biodiversity goals. Colombia’s 2020 NDC Update includes over 30 mitigation measures and a goal to reduce GHG
INTRODUCTION
The planning for mitigation section analyzes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in urban plans, carbon sinks, urban form and GHG in infrastructure and transportation, urban green spaces and their climate services, neighborhood design and energy savings in buildings, and the development process through the lens of mitigation. Forests are an extremely important factor for Colombia and its geography, economy and mitigation efforts. About half (52%) of Colombia’s surface is forests, and the nation contains half of the world’s moorlands. Further, deforestation is Colombia’s largest GHG contributor at 16.68%. Taking these two facts into account, it is not surprising that Colombia focuses a lot of its climate change policies on its forests and biodiversity goals. Colombia’s 2020 NDC Update includes over 30 mitigation measures and a goal to reduce GHG emissions by 51% by 2030, and to be net-zero by 2050. It is worth noting that this is a significantly larger reduction commitment compared to their iNDC of 2015 which committed a reduction of 20%. This indicates that the policies and their outcomes have been positively impactful enough that the nation felt confident in increasing their reduction goals. Colombia is especially committed to its reductions because they recognize that they are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change as a diverse geography and economy which are both dependent on the use of natural resources and climatic conditions. Colombia produced an estimated 0.46% of global GHG emissions in
2010, and by 2017 they reported producing 0.25% of global GHG emissions. The Planning for Mitigation section analyzes 22 laws, decrees, plans and policies alongside other literatures to come to an understanding of Colombia’s mitigation needs, efforts, and goals. The Mitigation Team determined that the climate mitigation strategy in Colombia seeks to address environmental and public health consequences related to global climate change in 5 key areas: consideration of GHG emissions in planning efforts, urban form and physical infrastructure, green space, neighborhood and building design and development approval and mitigation. In regards to GHG emissions assessments, there are several provisions that call for an evaluation of urban form-related emissions, the estimation of carbon sinks and their contribution to overall reductions and climatebased scenario-planning efforts. Colombia also meets the Toolkit’s standards in the way of assessing plans’ abilities to meet mitigation targets across different levels of government and maintains adequate provisions for emission reduction benchmarks. There are adequate legal provisions promoting a connected, dense, and accessible and urban landscape, with the exception of legislation requiring consideration for existing and planned transportation infrastructure relative to local population and population density. National provisions for greenspace meet toolkit standards in terms of offering environmental and mitigation services through
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LAW AND CLIMATE CHANGE TOOLKIT
