The energy landscape is a shifting terrain, full of twists and turns, according to statistics in the latest report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). While some countries are backtracking on phasing out fossil fuels, others are leaning in. While investment in renewables is surging beyond investment in fossil fuels, companies are repeatedly pulling out of climate commitments. Questions of energy security, stability, inflation, war and domestic politics are all influencing these trends, economists say. Amid this volatile landscape is Colombia, a major oil-producing country where government officials say they will stay the course on their fossil fuel pledges. Since 2023, the government has halted all new oil and gas exploration contracts. And during a U.N. forum on Indigenous issues, the ministry of environment announced it will submit a resolution for a binding global agreement on due diligence of critical minerals, elements used to power renewable technologies. The country’s goal is to progressively move away from oil and gas while strengthening local renewable energy and storage capacity. Lena Yanina Estrada, the new environment minister and first Indigenous person to hold the position, argues that it’s a model that helps bring long-term stability in a turbulent world. “Colombia, like other Andean-Amazonian countries, is highly vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis. Persisting in the expansion of the fossil frontier will not help to diminish these impacts; instead, it will deepen dependence on volatile economies,” Estrada says. “Dynamics in the international market show that dependence on the volatility of oil prices…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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