Colombia
COLColombia uses less electricity per person than any other country in the OECD.
1,691 kWh per person per year, 38th of 38.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Cleaner than 7 in 10 grids worldwide.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
Colombia buys in more electricity than it sends out.
What this means
The share of the electricity used here that was generated abroad and carried in over high-voltage lines. The higher it climbs, the more this country relies on a neighbour to keep its lights on.
Almost everything this grid runs on comes from inside the country.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of Colombia
Colombia has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.
275 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour in 2015, 187 in 2025.
Colombia has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
Low-carbon electricity went from 65% to 77% in 5 years.
Colombia’s neighbours
VenezuelaVenezuela has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.
PeruPeru gets next to none of its electricity from oil, in a region built on it.
EcuadorEcuador has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.
PanamaGas overtook oil on Panama's grid in 2019.
BrazilBrazil is first in Latin America and the Caribbean for how much electricity it makes.
Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for Colombia. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.