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Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s pledge to end the granting of new oil and gas contracts has faced a torrent of opposition from actors ranging from the former president, Iván Duque, to corporate lobbyists and even some environmentalists.

Colombia is the first large fossil fuel producer and exporter in the Global South to make such a pledge, joining a small group of countries pursuing that seek to phase-out fossil fuel production.

The Petro government offered several justifications: tackling climate change, reducing pressure on the extractive frontier, limiting exposure to global energy transition risks, and recognising that addressing the climate crisis requires the devaluation of fossil capital. Importantly, while the pledge aims to prevent future expansion, it does not restrict current production as the government is working to under existing contracts.

Despite being broadly aligned with the global calls to phase-out fossil fuels and included in Petro’s election manifesto, the opposition to the pledge reveals the nature of climate obstruction in Colombia, the diversity of actors against it and how they construct and maintain their criticisms.

The research

The research, published in , uses Lamb et al.’s (2020) typology of the discourses of  to analyse coverage of the pledge in five national publications which are widely read by national elites: El Tiempo, El Espectador, Portafolio, Semana, and La República. The data was collected from Petro's August 2022 inauguration through December 2024.

accept the existence of climate change but emphasize the negative social and economic effects of climate policies. These discourses often contain partial truths and might be communicated in good faith, yet they function to obstruct climate action. 

Twenty articles were found discussing the contract pledge. The qualitative analysis finds that delay discourses are widely used across the five national publications by actors opposing the contract pledge. These opponents combined delay discourses with issues including energy security and economic stability. The media outlets analysed failed to critically assess or contextualise these claims.

Examples of discourses of climate delay found in Colombia’s national media

Two illustrative examples demonstrate how these delay discourses were used to oppose the pledge:

• In the ‘push non-transformative solutions’ category and the ‘fossil fuel solutionism’ discourse, Senator , wrote in La República that “natural gas has become the key fuel for the country’s energy transition” and “it is vital to activate natural gas exploration…as well as the implementation of new contracts”.

• Under the ‘emphasize the downsides’ category and the appeal to ‘social justice and wellbeing’ discourses, the former Colombian president, Iván Duque, characterised the pledge as “” and how oil and gas are “fundamental for the good state of the economy”.  

Overall, the media search reveals how the contract pledge is covered in the five publications. The articles in Semana, La República, El Tiempo and Portafolio were generally unbalanced in their treatment of the pledge and tended to be biased in favour of fossil fuels. The El Espectador articles were more balanced. In all twenty articles analysed, no reference was made to any technical information to substantiate claims made by opponents of the pledge.

Opponents of the pledge strategically shifted the debate away from a technical discussion onto their preferred terrain since it better served their interests to politicise the issue.

This strategy has been effective in shaping public discourse. While it has not forced the government to abandon the pledge, it has contributed to its framing as politically toxic. This is reflected in more cautious messaging including by Petro’s second Minister of Mines and Energy, Andrés Camacho, who downplayed the commitment.

What explains the widespread use of delay discourses?

The widespread use of delay discourses by diverse actors in response to the contract pledge shows how these media outlets are not neutral, but rather enable, amplify and circulate these discourses.

There are several factors to explain the prevalence of these discourses:

• Media outlets gave voice to fossil fuel lobbyists critical of the pledge
• A reliance on political and economic journalists to cover energy issues who may lack specific training in this area.
• Limited institutional capacity in the Colombian media to cover scientific issues.
• Financial pressures on outlets, which sometimes encourages sensationalist reporting to drive up readership.

What does this mean for global fossil fuel phase-outs?

The article shows that Colombia’s media is an important site of climate obstruction and not a neutral actor in the energy transition debate, but rather serves to enable, amplify and circulate delay discourses. The findings are relevant beyond Colombia given the ample of fossil fuel incumbents working across the media using climate obstruction discourses to undermine the shift away from oil, gas and coal.

 Although the opposition has been unable to derail the pledge, it has succeeded in shaping the debate. Opponents were able to construct a consensus against the pledge where those opposing it could present their interests as the general interest. These actors mobilised their discursive power to criticise the pledge as disastrous for Colombia and establish the idea that signing new contracts is synonymous with economic stability and energy security.

This research raises important questions about the robustness and longevity of Petro’s contract pledge, which is central pillar of his just energy transition vision. With a few months left of Petro’s term, the fallout of the Iran war and the first round of elections in May, it will be interesting to see whether the opposition to the pledge intensifies or adapts its messaging. 

The Colombian case also demonstrates the enormous challenges of building consensus for a just transition away from fossil fuels when political polarisation is acute, constructive dialogue between the government and the mining and energy sector is scarce and parts of the national media play an active role in supporting industry talking points.

The First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels taking place in late April in Colombia will be an invaluable opportunity for the Petro government to show that the contract pledge was justified and the fiscal, social and environmental rationales behind it remain solid. 

To read the open access study, click .

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