On the Colombian side, the meeting was led by Adriana Mendoza, Director of Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in charge of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Lilia Tatiana Roa Avendaño, Deputy Minister of Environmental Land Management; Patricia Cortés, Director of Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, María Saralux Valbuena, Director of Climate Change and Risk Management of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development; and representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.
On behalf of the European Union, the delegation was headed by Diana Acconcia, Director for International Affairs and Climate Finance of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action, who was accompanied by Joerg Schreiber, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the EU in Colombia; Lukas Visek, member of the diplomatic Task Force for Carbon Pricing of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action; Alberto Menghini, Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Colombia; Erik Dhaenens, Counsellor for Environment, Climate and Employment of the EU Delegation to Colombia.
At this second dialogue, the senior officials from both sides agreed to continue to work jointly to accelerate the green energy transition and tackle pressing climate challenges.
This Dialogue comes after the EU and Colombia established the basis of a high-level dialogue in 2022. The EU and Colombia are bound by strong economic ties, common values and a shared commitment to democracy, human rights, social justice, sustainable development and the rules-based multilateral global order.
During the dialogue, both sides discussed joint priorities and challenges including the path towards climate neutrality, the just energy transition, as well as cooperation on adaptation and climate finance. Both parties exchanged on the state of play of the preparation of their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which will be submitted ahead of COP30 in Brazil. Both sides reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to the Paris Agreement and the need to scale-up action in this decade to drastically reduce emissions to keep a limit of 1.5°C temperature rise within reach.
Colombia and the EU also exchanged on carbon market policies and best practices introduced to make their economies less carbon-intensive and polluting. They discussed Colombia’s plans and EU’s expertise on setting up effective and fair carbon pricing.
Both sides stand ready to mutually support each other in order to reach the objectives of the green agenda and reaffirmed their commitment to promote a stronger bi-regional partnership for the protection of climate and biodiversity and agreed on their intention to include this as a major area of interest in the political declaration and the EU-CELAC Roadmap to be adopted during the next Summit of Leaders between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union, that will be held in Colombia during the fourth quarter of 2025.
