Colombia

Tramvia de la ville de Medellín, Colombie — © Benjamin Hémar pour l'AFD

Colombia is on its way to becoming the third-largest economy in Latin America. But despite its undeniable vitality, the country must deal with huge challenges. To provide support, AFD is focusing on three objectives: local sustainable development, policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and social cohesion.

Context

Colombia's distinctive characteristic is its diversity, in both its natural heritage and its social reality. The country's challenge is to succeed, in the coming years, in reducing its social inequality and in boosting equitable development for all regions. The country has launched a highly proactive policy to combat climate change and protect biodiversity, aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero deforestation by 2030.

With a total of 4.3 billion dollars committed since its arrival in the country in 2010, France is one of the foremost bilateral donors in Colombia. AFD grants loans to the Colombian Government as support to national public policies (decentralization, social protection, climate and territorial development). It grants direct financing, without state guarantees, to local authorities, public-service enterprises and financial institutions. These loans are accompanied by technical assistance and from delegated resources from the European Commission (Latin America Investment Facility).

In 2016, the French and Colombian presidents signed a roadmap that creates a framework for AFD intervention in the upcoming years. The roadmap outlines two priorities:

support for implementing the peace agreements
complementarity between the financing of investments and the financing of Government policies.

AFD's Colombia office is directly attached to the Andes regional office.

Our approach

"AFD and Colombia fighting inequality and climate change"

Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2016, AFD has established itself as a strategic partner for Colombia in integrating climate action into its sectoral and territorial policies.
Between 2016 and 2024, it mobilized over €1.2 billion in climate financing, combined with technical assistance, around three priority areas: climate action, energy transition, and sustainable territorial development.

This support has strengthened the technical capacities of Colombian ministries in areas such as green growth, climate finance, the transition to carbon neutrality, and the use of modeling tools for the ecological transition.

AFD also supports public enterprises with a major impact on sustainable development and decarbonization, such as Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), to which it has provided nearly €700 million in loans for projects in the water, renewable energy, and energy efficiency sectors.

AFD gives special priority to preserving strategic ecosystems, in line with the French presidential initiative Alliance for the Preservation of Tropical Rainforests. It supports territorial initiatives in the Amazon Basin that promote alternatives to deforestation and illicit crops (the TerrAmaz project, €9.5 million; the TerrIndígena project, €12 million).

It also supports the comprehensive rural development policy promoted by the Colombian government as part of the peace process, by strengthening the capacities of local authorities and communities in land-use planning, forest-cover monitoring, and the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices.

AFD is a key partner of Columbia's cities, supporting their transition to low-carbon, green models, while focusing on social inclusion of the most vulnerable communities. It has launched initiatives in strategic sectors such as sustainable transport, waste management, access to water and sanitation, ecosystem restoration, and air quality. In 2010, it granted a €250 million loan to finance the first tramway line and two urban cable-car lines in Medellín. It has been supporting the "green" transition of Barranquilla since 2020, through several flagship projects including the rehabilitation of the Cienaga de Mallorquin lagoon. Since 2023, in Bogotá, it has been involved in the development of several strategic policies, including for urban transport (with a gondola lift system and green corridor), care for the most vulnerable groups (the "cuidado" system), waste management, biodiversity protection in urban areas, and crisis management.

Through local development banks, AFD is also supporting local authorities to make this sustainable transition. In 2012, together with Findeter, it set up a technical cooperation mechanism and credit line for urban projects in several municipalities. Since 2023, it has been working with FDN to provide intermediate cities with loans under particularly favorable conditions which can be used to purchase electric buses and thus reduce regional inequalities.

Since establishing its presence in Colombia, AFD has worked to combat social inequalities in all their forms. Particular attention is given to reducing gender inequalities, which are systematically analyzed across all its operations. AFD also supported an initial reform of the social protection system in 2013 and renewed its technical cooperation with the Ministry of Health on issues related to access to healthcare and medicines.

AFD also granted a €100 million loan to ICETEX, the leading public student loan bank, to finance 56,000 student loans, with priority given to issues such as gender equality, the inclusion of the LGBTQ community, and the promotion of green jobs. It also works closely with the Colombian Ministry of Labor to support its just transition strategy, notably by supporting professional retraining for green jobs. It also helped the University of the Andes to develop an ambitious research program on inequality, aimed at informing public debate and strengthening public policy in this field.

AFD supports civil society initiatives in Colombia, believing they have an essential role in the country's development. Its portfolio currently includes over 30 ongoing projects, totaling nearly €8 million, and covering various issues such as the protection of indigenous peoples, sustainable tourism, environmental protection (i.e. reducing deforestation), rural development (agroecology for small-scale farmers and food sovereignty), economic inclusion (domestic workers), the defense of human rights (protection of rights defenders), as well as waste recycling, via a gender- and climate-based approach. These civil society organizations conduct work on the ground, have invaluable knowledge of the country and have built strong reputations, making them key partners in implementing AFD's strategic priorities in Colombia.