Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, claimed today that a new law pending in congress will support Colombia’s compromise with the Climate Change Agreement signed in Paris in 2015. He added that he expects the law to be approved by the congress quickly, as the final debate to approve the law will be conducted later this week.
Santos is scheduled to visit France next week to meet new French president Emmanuel Macron.
“Colombia’s new environmental law will allow reduce carbon emissions by 20% in 2030”, Santos claimed. He also said that Colombia is preparing programs to achieve these objectives and to better preserve the environment, including conservation of moorlands throughout the country.
Colombia’s two largest cities, Bogota and Medellin, have come under fire in recent months for their high levels of pollution. Smog levels in Medellin recently reached levels that required children to stay home from school and caused authorities to issue a red alert to its citizens. According to a sensational report from epidemiologist Elkin Martinez, last year more than 3,000 people died in the city due to air pollution, or one every three hours.
