Climate risk country profile: Colombia

This climate risk profile is intended to serve as a public good to facilitate upstream country diagnostics, policy dialogue, and strategic planning by providing comprehensive overviews of trends and projected changes in key climate parameters, sector-specific implications, relevant policies and programs, adaptation priorities and opportunities for further actions. Colombia, located in the northwest corner of South America, is a topographically diverse country traversed by the Andes Mountains with lowland plains in the east. Colombia submitted its Nationally-Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC in 2018, its Updated NDC in 2020, and its Third National Communication (NC3) in 2017, in support of the country’s efforts to realize its development goals and increase its resilience to climate change by enhancing mitigation and adaptation implementation efforts.

Colombia’s diverse landscape is subject to the impacts of extreme events. Colombia is recognized as a megadiverse country with a diverse range of ecosystems, such as paramos, mangroves, wetlands, coral reefs, glaciers, oceans, and tropical forests, as well as significant biodiversity and water resources. Temperatures across Colombia are projected to continue rising, with mean monthly temperatures projected to rise by +1.88°C by the 2050s and by 3.88°C by the end of the century under a high-emissions scenario. Across all emissions scenarios, temperatures are projected to continue to rise in Colombia, through the end of the century.