Colombia’s Climate Future Hangs in the Balance as a New President Prepares to Take Power

For years, Colombia has stood as a rare and hopeful example of what it looks like when a fossil fuel dependent nation dares to imagine a different future. Under outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the country banned fracking, paused new oil and gas exploration, and stepped onto the world stage as a voice for the energy transition. That progress now faces a serious threat.

Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing businessman and Trump ally, has claimed victory in Colombia’s presidential runoff with a razor-thin lead. His campaign platform centers on aggressively expanding oil, gas, and mineral extraction, and he has dismissed environmental concerns about fracking as little more than urban myths. For the communities, activists, and Indigenous peoples who have spent decades protecting Colombia’s land and water, that rhetoric carries a chilling weight.

Colombia holds the grim distinction of being the deadliest country on Earth for environmental defenders. Dozens are murdered every year. Thousands more face threats, assaults, and intimidation simply for speaking up in defense of their ecosystems and territories. According to InsideClimateNews, climate policy activist Gina Cortés Valderrama warns that an administration committed to extraction will treat the country as a storehouse of resources to be sold off, with consequences that ripple far beyond its borders. For communities in Magdalena Medio, Putumayo, and other regions already living with the impacts of extractive industry, the stakes could not feel more immediate or more personal.

Arhuaco Indigenous leader Dwirunney Torres put it plainly: territories are not sacrifice zones, and fracking destroys water, land, and people. That truth holds regardless of who wins an election. Colombia is already experiencing intensifying droughts and floods driven by climate change, and the decisions made now will shape the lives of millions for generations.

What makes this moment matter beyond Colombia’s borders is the pattern it reflects. A regional shift toward deregulation and fossil fuel expansion is accelerating across Latin America, with serious implications for the planet‘s shared climate goals. Protecting the environment is not a partisan position. It is, as Colombian advocates are urging their incoming leadership to recognize, a national and global responsibility.

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