Colombian coal

Here is an interesting article on the Colombian coal mining industry. According to the article, Colombia is the fourth largest producer of coal in the world. Most of this coal is exported to the US, Chile, and Europe. Colombia uses very little coal, because no one heats their houses, and most of our electricity comes from hydroelectric dams.

The article discusses a sort of existential dilemma for Colombia: coal mining brings real economic benefits to Colombia, but it contributes to the global warming that especially threatens tropical countries like ours. Given that our country has more biodiversity than any other save Brazil, we've got a lot to lose with climate change. Inspired by this fact, Colombia is a world leader in reduction of greenhouse gases (and we don't emit that much to begin with), but the carbon dioxide produced when industrial countries burn Colombian coal far outstrips any emission reductions we achieve domestically here. Environmental initiatives in Colombia reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 17.3 million tons a year, but the coal we export adds 271 million tons a year to the atmosphere!

One could cynically quip that once again Colombia is stupidly facilitating the gluttony of the industrial world, which leads to severe setbacks for us. But it is a difficult situation. Should we limit or reduce our coal production in order to correct the naughty behavior of the developed world? Despite our important share of world coal production, it's probable that even in the most unlikely event of Colombia's ceasing all coal mining, industrial countries would continue their profligate consumption of fossil fuels, simply obtaining them from elsewhere. In this case we in Colombia would continue suffering the effects of excess fossil fuel use in the rest of the world, while losing the bit of economic benefit we get from our coal mines.

It's what we in development circles might call a "real pickle".