The roadmap developed by the country sets the path to carbon neutrality through a multi-sectoral approach.

Santiago de Chile, 28 October 2021. Article 4 of the Paris Agreement calls on Parties to strive to develop long-term climate strategies (LTCSs) for low-emission development. These strategies have a fundamental role in providing a vision for sustainable transformation and laying the foundation for the necessary trajectory towards carbon neutrality and resilience.

Within this framework, Chile developed during 2020 and 2021 the process of developing its Long-Term Climate Strategy -which was characterised by being highly participatory and multi-stakeholder and considered a formal process of consultation and citizen participation- which culminated with the presentation made last Tuesday 26 October to the Advisory Committee for Climate Action. This process was accompanied by technical and financial support from various international cooperation agencies, including the European Union, channelled through the EUROCLIMA+ programme, through the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH.

The launch was led by Carolina Schmidt, Minister of Environment of Chile and President of COP25, with the participation of the Heads of the portfolios of Energy and Mining, Minister Juan Carlos Jobet, and of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Minister Andrés Couve, and representatives of civil society, academia, the private sector and international organisations.

Minister Schmidt was responsible for presenting the Chilean Long-Term Climate Strategy, and highlighted, among other things, the relevance of the strategy's multi-sectoral approach: "The greatest global crisis we face today as a generation is climate change, and combating it is an urgency to which we are all called. There is no sector of the economy, activity or territory that will not be affected by climate change. Therefore, to tackle it we require a multi-sectoral transformation, which implies a path of change towards low-emission and climate-resilient development. How we build that pathway is precisely the Long-Term Climate Strategy.

Carolina Urmeneta, Head of the Climate Change office of the Ministry of the Environment, also participated in the presentation. She gave an account of the participatory process of the construction of the strategy, and the great deployment of spaces for discussion with civil society and the different territories that were implemented during the process of building the LTCS.

The activity continued with interventions by representatives of the COP25 Scientific Advisory Committee, civil society, and sub-national governments, who highlighted the new strategy presented, and the relevance of incorporating science as a basis for decision-making and the territorial perspective in the plans.

For his part, Minister Jobet highlighted Chile's commitment to renewable energies, and the goal that the country has set itself to achieve a 100% zero-emissions energy matrix by 2050.

Minister Couve also underscored the relevance of the inter-ministerial cooperation that was behind the process of formulating the strategy, and the development of a common vision, which integrates the perspective of the various sectors, valuing public-private articulations, and providing a common sense of action on climate change.

The event ended with the intervention of Ewout Sandker, Head of Cooperation of the European Union in Chile, who in addition to congratulating the country on this important milestone for climate action, underlined how the LTCS highlights the conjunction of objectives, since achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is a shared objective between the EU and Chile. In this regard, he stressed the importance of the alliance and cooperation in climate areas between the two countries, which has manifested itself in both the support to the COP25 Presidency, as well as in the support given to this strategy through the EUROCLIMA+ programme.

Support and cooperation

It is worth mentioning that among the various supports received for the preparation of Chile's LTCS is the EUROCLIMA+ programme of the European Union, which materialised through the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, an agency in charge of the technical support for the implementation of an institutional and capacity building programme at the subnational level, and the formal participation process of the strategy, the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), an agency that assisted the country in the deployment of communication strategies focused on awareness raising and citizen participation, and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which contributed with studies on the costs of inaction in the face of climate change.

5 pillars and a multi-sectoral approach

Among the fundamental aspects of Chile's new LTCS are the five pillars on which the strategy is based: science-based, climate governance for the implementation of strategies; cost-effectiveness of actions; implementation of nature-based solutions; and the social pillar for a just transition. It also highlights the establishment of carbon budgets by sector, sectoral targets around energy, transport, mining, and an emphasis on management plans for marine protected areas, among others.

You can check out the video of the launch event here

In the framework of COP26, Chile's Long Term Climate Strategy was handed over by Minister Schmidt, accompanied by Ministers Couve and Jobet, to the UN's top climate change official, Patricia Espinosa, who highlighted that this is "an important achievement that confirms the commitment of the government and the Chilean people to truly sustainable development. The strategy presented today is consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement and establishes sectoral carbon budgets based on the commitments made by Chile in its Nationally Determined Contribution". 

About EUROCLIMA+

EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union to promote environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient development in 18 Latin American countries, particularly for the benefit of the most vulnerable populations. The Programme is implemented under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), and UN Environment.