Colombia's Environment Ministry will move to revoke Decree 973 of 2026, the regulation that set operating rules for the country's carbon market, reopening a framework issued only weeks before former President Gustavo Petro left office.

Environment Minister Fabio Arjona announced the decision during Medellín Climate Week, according to a report by local news website La Silla Vacía published Tuesday. The withdrawal process for the decree begins now, with the ministry citing procedural defects rather than substantive policy objections.

The ministry's review found that the Finance Ministry had not participated in matters within its remit, and that opinions from other government agencies were still pending when the decree was issued. The final text also underwent substantial changes without being republished for public comment, the ministry said.

What the decree covered

Decree 973 of 2026 introduced requirements for carbon projects operating in Colombia, including emissions verification, community participation and government oversight of international credit sales. It also extended potential project durations, allowing some emissions reduction projects to run for up to 15 years and removal projects for as long as 40 years.

Industry representatives had raised concerns that government approval requirements between project phases could increase costs and deter foreign investment.

Replacement framework and Renare rebuild

The government says revocation will correct the procedural failures while a new regulatory system is developed — one involving communities, territories, private companies and public agencies.

Arjona said the administration aims to strengthen the National Registry of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions, known as Renare, and to write rules that encourage private capital to flow into conservation and emissions reduction projects. He set a working deadline of three months for a new version of the registry.

The pledge positions Renare as the operational backbone of whatever regulatory structure replaces the decree: a functioning registry with clear title and tracking of emission reductions is the precondition for both compliance-grade credits and the private investment Arjona says he wants to attract.

Continuity in the interim

Existing rules remain in effect while the replacement framework is developed, the ministry confirmed. That leaves project developers and credit buyers in Colombia operating under a soon-to-be-revoked decree, with the substance of its verification, participation and export-oversight requirements carried forward only at the ministry's discretion until new regulations land.

For market participants, the timeline is now the operative question. The three-month target for the rebuilt Renare registry is the first measurable milestone. Whether the replacement framework preserves the extended project durations in Decree 973 — up to 15 years for reductions and 40 years for removals — and whether it softens the inter-phase government approvals that drew industry criticism will determine how private capital responds.

The formal revocation of the decree, and publication of the successor regulation, closes the loop.