Oct. 19, 2026 - Since June 2025, WRI Colombia and its partners have supported the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the local governments of Bogotá DC, Cali, Valledupar and Maicao in the rollout of Colombia’s regulatory framework for sustainable construction. The work is part of the Zero Emission and Resilient Buildings (ZERB) Accelerator, a global initiative that supports countries in strengthening multilevel partnerships to move toward more efficient and resilient buildings.Issued by the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory in 2025, Resolution 0194 updates and strengthens the guidelines introduced by Resolution 0549 of 2015, the country’s first regulatory framework for sustainable construction. It incorporates mandatory minimum energy and water savings percentages and, for the first time, a Monitoring and Control Mechanism that allows for the validation of compliance with the standards at the local level. The mechanism describes the steps, key dates, criteria, actors and formats involved in validating compliance with Resolution 0194 for each new construction project and includes a spreadsheet-based tool to assess compliance.Resolution 0194 establishes standards for new buildings according to their type (housing, commercial, offices, hotels, education and hospitals) and the climate zone in which they are located. The climate zone determines the required savings levels based on the environmental conditions of each territory. Besides the Monitoring and Control Mechanism, the resolution also introduces two additional technical annexes that structure its application: a Sustainable Construction Guide and climate data for every municipality in the country.Supporting ImplementationWRI Colombia’s support included training and tools for municipalities and urban planning offices to implement these regulations, as well as facilitating coordination between national and subnational levels of government through workshops and the clarification of communication channels for exchanging feedback and resolving implementation questions. WRI supported officials from the municipalities of Bogotá, Cali, Valledupar and Maicao in socializing Resolution 0194, defining roles and responsibilities for implementation within each municipality, providing technical support on enforcement and monitoring, and co-developing flowcharts and guidelines for internal implementation.As part of this capacity-building process, WRI Colombia developed a process flow that is now part of the official guidance from the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory for implementing Resolution 0194. The graphic organizes the flow of activities into three stages: design, construction and reporting. For each stage, it identifies the responsibilities of each actor involved (designers and constructors, delegated permitting offices, municipal authorities and utilities), the required documents, the decision points and the reporting times established by the regulation. The process flow also guides the application of verification tools, such as the Monitoring and Control Mechanism established in Annex 3 of the regulation, as well as the green building certifications approved by the ministry. Process flow for Resolution 0194, on sustainable construction. Image by Ministry of Housing, City and Territory/WRI Colombia WRI Colombia and WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities have supported the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory in various initiatives aimed at improving the environmental performance of the construction sector. A significant milestone was WRI’s support of the National Roadmap for Net Zero Carbon Buildings, presented in June 2022. This roadmap outlines a strategy to guide Colombia’s construction sector toward net-zero carbon buildings by 2050, encompassing the entire lifecycle of emissions. Strengthening the sustainable buildings regulation is one key action of this roadmap.This history of joint work has contributed to building technical capacity and providing input for the evolution of the country’s public policy. The lessons and tools developed through this collaboration offer a model that can be replicated by other municipalities across Colombia and provide a practical reference for countries pursuing the implementation of sustainable construction regulations.The ZERB Accelerator is implemented by WRI, C40 Cities and the Under2 Coalition, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.