Germany and Colombia on Friday signed a "partnership for climate and a fair energy transition" that will focus on extending renewable power, protecting the environment and biodiversity and sustainable urban development.
Colombia is the second Latin American state with which Germany has signed such an agreement, after Peru.
Germany's development minister Svenja Schulze said her ministry will contribute an additional €200mn ($214mn) towards Colombia's national climate targets.
Colombia, as an Amazonian country and one of the countries with the highest biodiversity in the world, "is a partner without whom we cannot achieve our international climate and environmental protection targets", Schulze said.
The partnership will lead Colombia to transition from fossil to clean energies, "with the aim of becoming an exporter of clean energies such as green hydrogen and its derivatives", Colombia's foreign minister Alvar Leyva Duran said.
Germany and Colombia have the "transition from fossil to renewable energy generation" in common, German economy and climate minister Robert Habeck said. Coal trade will become less important between the two countries, with co-operation on building up renewable capacities to become "decisive", he added.
Colombia was Germany's third-biggest coal supplier last year.
Germany's environment minister Steffi Lemke stressed the importance of protecting natural ecosystems for climate action. "Nature-based solutions and targeted adaptation measures buffer the effects of the climate crisis," she said.
Anna Luehrmann, minister of state for Europe and climate at Germany's federal foreign office, said that Colombia is a "very important and reliable global partner for us regarding climate action, whether it's protecting the Amazon, the energy transition or in the forums of international climate policy". The two countries "can jointly set new standards and develop new instruments for international climate action", Luehrmann said.
Colombia had joined ranks with the EU at the UN Cop 27 climate conference in November in calling for a global phase-out of fossil fuels, Luehrmann pointed out. "With a view to Cop 28, our alliance will be even more important in setting the course for a global energy transition."
Colombia in April joined the climate club initiated by Germany and the G7 group of industrialised countries.
