Yuvelis Morales, a community organizer from the heart of Colombia’s oil lands, has been awarded the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize – often called the Green Nobel and the world’s most prestigious honor for grassroots environmental defenders – for her years of work exposing pollution linked to Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-owned oil company. She faced death threats and was forced to relocate as a result of that work.
The recognition is richly deserved. But the fact that her work remains necessary tells its own story: this week, civil society organizations are presenting new evidence at a series of press briefings across Colombia showing that the methane leaks and water contamination Morales has spent her life fighting are still happening.
Methane, Lies and Poisoned Waters
Communities in the Middle Magdalena region have been raising the alarm about pollution linked to Colombia’s oil industry for years. In 2019, Earthworks first documented uncontrolled methane leaking from Ecopetrol’s oil and gas operations using optical gas imaging (OGI) technology. That work triggered a two-year investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency US (EIA US), culminating in the March 2025 report Crude Lies and release of a BBC documentary.
Based on internal documents leaked by Ellsberg International Whistleblower Award Winner, Andrés Olarte Peña – known as the Iguana Papers – the report found that Ecopetrol had allegedly concealed the true scale of its emissions, contaminated the Middle Magdalena wetlands – a biodiversity hotspot home to endangered species and hundreds of thousands of people who depend on its waters – and hidden approximately 20% of major environmental damage cases from regulators. Ecopetrol denied any wrongdoing.
The Leaks are Still Happening
Three years on, a new round of OGI monitoring in 2026 confirms that little has changed. Earthworks investigators have once again captured visual evidence of uncontrolled methane venting at multiple Ecopetrol facilities, including sites that were identified in Crude Lies.
A steady stream of hydrocarbon plumes was observed venting from a gas well in Yondó, Antioquia, spreading toward nearby homes and the main road. While some mitigation efforts have been observed at non-operating, plugged wells, these measures appear insufficient or have degraded over time.
Methane is a climate super-pollutant, trapping heat 80 times more effectively than CO₂ over a 20-year period. Even low-volume leaks across hundreds of wells represent a significant and largely unaccounted source of climate pollution, as evidenced by measurements across just six sites surveyed by Earthworks.
Colombia’s Climate Credibility at Risk
Colombia has established itself as a global leader on climate action. It was the first South American country to regulate methane emissions from its oil and gas sector, the first major economy in Latin American to join the push for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has made ambitious commitments under the Global Methane Pledge and its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC.
Ecopetrol, which controls the majority of Colombia’s oil and has production and owns 100% of its refining capacity, is at the center of those commitments – its emissions data forms a primary input into Colombia’s national greenhouse gas inventory. The gap between policy ambition and what imaging cameras are capturing on the ground is not a technical footnote. It is a direct challenge to Colombia’s credibility as a climate leader.
“Colombia has the tools and the commitments to lead on methane, but what we’re seeing on the ground tells a different story. Without enforcement, these leaks will continue to undermine both communities and the country’s climate credibility,” said Adam Dolezal, oil and gas campaigner at EIA US.
This Week: New Evidence, Fresh Demands
This week, a series of public workshops and media briefings in Barrancabermeja, Bogotá, and Santa Marta will bring together journalists, community organizations, academics, and government representatives to examine this new evidence and discuss what accountability must look like. Convened by the Colombia Free of Fracking Alliance, Corporación Compromiso, CRY-GEAM, and Earthworks, the events will present the new findings alongside ongoing documentation of wastewater dumping, and other environmental and social harms linked to Colombia’s oil and gas sector. See event schedule below for details.
The Stakes
Monitoring alone is not enough. Detection must translate into enforceable action: rapid repair requirements, independent verification of well closures, mandatory public reporting, and meaningful sanctions for non-compliance. Without these measures, Colombia risks allowing a legacy of oil and gas infrastructure to continue leaking methane for decades to come.
For Morales and the communities of the Middle Magdalena region – including the fishermen’s federation FEDEPESPAN, whose president Yuli Velasquez had her home attacked by gunmen in March 2024 after filing complaints against Ecopetrol – the Goldman Prize is a moment of recognition long overdue. But recognition is not enough. Colombia already has the policy framework and the international standing to stop the harm. What is needed now is enforcement.
Event Schedule
Workshop in Barrancabermeja
Date: April 22, 2026
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Place: Auditorio del Centro Popular Comercial (CPC), Calle 51 #8A-2, Sector Comercial, Barrancabermeja
Workshop in Bogotá
Date: April 23, 2026
Time: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Place: Fundación Böll, Calle 37 No. 15 – 40, Bogotá
Workshop in Santa Marta
Date: April 24, 2026
Time: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Place: Universidad Antonio Nariño, Carrera 49 #30-94, Santa Marta, Troncal del Caribe
About EIA
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an award-winning nonprofit, internationally renowned for its innovative investigative techniques. For over three decades, EIA has exposed environmental crimes around the world, amplified frontline voices, and made the emergence of more equitable and sustainable management of the world’s natural resources possible.
About Earthworks
Earthworks is a nonprofit organization committed to working with frontline communities to address the adverse impacts of mining and energy development on public health and the environment while promoting sustainable solutions. For more than 20 years, Earthworks has worked on the ground with local partners across the US and the world to expose harmful pollution and advocate to reform policies and adopt stricter rules that put the lives of people before the interests of industry.