One of the main goals of climate change worldwide is to reduce CO2 emissions produced by the use of fossil fuels, therefore, this article seeks to analyze how the fuel policy in Colombia is directed towards the same goal.

Fossil fuels, ordinary or extra gasoline and diesel, in words of Decree 1073 of 2015 "are mixtures of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum that have been designed as fuels for internal combustion engines", that generate emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide and monoxide, which cause and/or enhance the greenhouse effect, air, soil and water pollution, among other negative environmental effects, which explains why their disincentive is one of the main goals of climate change, as well as of the environmental policies of current governments around the world. 

Since 2001, the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Colombia has promoted a fuel oxygenation policy, ordering that fossil fuels used in the country must contain oxygenated components such as fuel alcohols or biodiesel, as an adjuvant factor for environmental sanitation, considering that biofuels are obtained from resources of animal or vegetable origin, that they will not be exhausted in the near future and that their use reduces gas emissions by large percentages. These orders are mainly found in Article 1 of Law 693 of 2001, Article 7 of Law 939 of 2004 and paragraph 2 of Article 35 of Law 1955 of 2019.

In development of the above, currently applies the Resolution 40447 of October 31, 2022 of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which order retail distributors, as fuel service stations, and wholesale or large distributors of fuels, to only commercialize fuels blended with the following percentage of biofuel or fuel alcohol per gallon:

-    For the case of regular or extra motor gasoline:
 

-    In the case of fossil diesel: each gallon must contain 10% biofuel or biodiesel.

It is important to highlight that some departments of the country are exempted from the mandatory blend or have a different blend percentage due to technical or logistical reasons or due to their border zone status.

According to the above, it is evident that the regulation of hydrocarbons in Colombia is advancing in order to promote the production and commercialization of cleaner and more sustainable fuels and contribute to the energy transition promoted by the National Government since years ago.