With his recently proposed Fair Energy Transition Plan, President Gustavo Petro has pledged to transform Colombia’s energy industry, which is heavily dependent upon hydrocarbons, and to move toward cleaner, renewable sources. But decreasing and eventually ending the country’s dependence on petroleum won’t be easy.

The Colombian government owns a majority (88.5 percent) of Ecopetrol, the company that controls most of the country’s oil and gas extraction, refining, and transport. Ecopetro not only supplies 80 percent of all fuel to Colombia — it is also responsible for half of the country’s exports and accounts for roughly 10 percent of the country’s GDP.

As part of President Petro’s new plan, Ecopetrol has pledged 40 percent of its 2023 budget to supposedly develop clean energy and to lower by 25 percent its emissions of greenhouse gases. Almost one-quarter of this budget is slotted for renewable energies (including solar panels to provide electricity to the plants), energy efficiency, and carbon capture, but most of the funds will go to improve energy security and transportation, designed to actually increase the amount of petroleum or gas that can be extracted, refined, and exported.