Assessing the impacts of nationally appropriate mitigation actions through energy system simulation: a Colombian case

All countries, including developing ones, have set climate change and energy security as clear target goals. They have developed programs and policies to reach their energy security, emission reduction, and environmental mitigation goals. Colombia has notably developed programs to promote renewable energies and efficiency. However, there is still a need to quantify the impact that these policies could have in the future. The aim of this paper is to quantify the emissions prevented by the implementation of two proposed Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), for which we built Colombia’s energy system model in order to understand its effects on GHG emissions. The first NAMA replaces old refrigerators that continue using CFC compounds with efficient refrigerators that use HCFC compounds. The second NAMA seeks to secure new energy supplies through renewable sources for areas not connected to the grid. We also created a scenario that integrates both NAMAs to understand their combined effects on GHG emissions. The simulation shows that both NAMAs will allow to prevent the emission of 4.71 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2040, and that the faster they are implemented, the more GHG emissions will be avoided. The model is a framework available for further research in climate change mitigation and energy efficiency policies.