The EUROCLIMA pavilion at COP27 dedicates a special space to addressing decarbonisation and long-term resilience in Latin America

Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), 14 November 2022. - As part of the activities taking place during the COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), the EUROCLIMA programme held last Saturday, 12 November, the strategic session Decarbonisation and long-term resilience in Latin America, with the participation of Eva Colorado -Director of International Cooperation and Climate Change of El Salvador-, Florencia Mitchell -National Director of Climate Change of Argentina-, Marcela Jaramillo-2050Pathways-, Pablo Vieira -Global Director of the NDC Partnership and, on behalf of the EUROCLIMA+ programme, Jimy Ferrer -ECLAC-, Cecilia Castillo -FIIAPP-, Silvia Brugger -GIZ- and Andrew Scyner - EUROCLIMA+ Programme Manager at the European Commission-.

Planning for the decarbonisation of the economy is a necessary commitment made by each country since the ratification of the Paris Agreement. From 2020 and every 5 years, countries must communicate or update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as well as their Long Term Strategies (LTS).

Seven countries in the region have already submitted their LTS to the UNFCCC (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico) and many others are on their way. EUROCLIMA+ is supporting El Salvador, Honduras and Panama in their planning processes to define their pathways to decarbonisation. 

"Long-term climate planning is the current reference instrument. This must be the guide for the rest of the established commitments and consistency must be guaranteed between all of them, short, medium and long term. Only a clear country vision, articulating sectors and stakeholders, maximising opportunities and minimising risks of this change of model, will lead us to the ultimate goal of carbon neutrality".
Cecilia Castillo · FIIAPP / EUROCLIMA+

The increase of ambition in the NDCs must necessarily contemplate long-term objectives, especially considering the best reduction scenarios and trajectories, the reduction of costs of the measures and the guarantees of adaptation of the country to the impacts. In this regard, Jimy Ferrer, ECLAC Economic Affairs Officer, warned during his intervention that achieving the decarbonisation of the economies of the Region requires an alignment between LTS and NDCs, and that the transition towards zero emissions requires cross-cutting processes and the participation of public, private and civil society actors, as well as the incorporation of the subnational level and climate finance in the LTS.

"The challenge is not only to build the LTS on the basis of all the scientific work of working with scenarios, but also on the implementation that will lead us to zero net emissions in 2050. To achieve this, we must rely on cross-sectoral work in order to be able to meet it.”
Jimy Ferrer · ECLAC / EUROCLIMA+

Long-term resilience is becoming a priority for Latin American countries, as reflected in the LTS presented in recent years. If NDCs are the guarantee for decarbonisation and adaptation in the short term, the objectives of both planning instruments must be consistent with each other. On the other hand, a fundamental part of planning is to secure the different domestic and international financing options for short- and long-term instruments, so that actions can be implemented as planned and ensured.

The event presented the progress made in the preparation of the long-term strategies, their coherence with the NDCs and the strategies and vision for the financing of the proposed actions, and made it possible to share the experience and perspective of the Latin American countries that are immersed in the formulation of the LTS, and to share some lessons learned, best practices and challenges in their respective processes.

In this line, Florencia Mitchell, National Director of Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Argentina, presented the progress and challenges of the experience of the long-term strategy for her country, highlighting the difficulty of differentiating between assumptions and reality, considering that the assumptions are the points on which the agreement should be reached, with the strategy being the framework of the 2050 vision, the scheme for achieving this vision.

Florencia also highlighted the importance of being able to translate into concrete actions the holistic view of the long-term strategy, so that profound transformations can take place in the coming years, with the help of adaptation and mitigation plans, the revision of the NDC itself and the cross-cutting approaches. 

For her part, Eva Colorado, Director of Cooperation and Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of El Salvador, commented on the formulation process of the Long Term Low Carbon and Climate Resilient Development Strategy for El Salvador 2050, as well as its challenges. During her presentation, she highlighted the importance of adaptation in Central America in general and in El Salvador in particular, the main focus of the strategy.

Eva expuso todas las herramientas de política climática que tiene el país para alinear las acciones para reducir emisiones y poder adaptarse al cambio climático considerando los diferentes territorios. En un primer momento, se elaboró un diagnóstico, proceso consultivo en el que se consultó a diferentes sectores la ruta de construcción de la estrategia, y en el momento actual se está identificando el proceso para elaborar una consulta pública que permita implementar la Estrategia a través de cuatro acciones, las cuales se estarán trabajando con el objetivo de desarrollar una visión nacional adaptada y resiliente al clima.

Finalmente, la sesión remató con un panel de discusión en el que representantes de NDC Partnership, 2050 Pathways y el programa EUROCLIMA+ comentaron las opciones de apoyo que cada uno de estos programas y plataformas puede proporcionar a los países para fortalecer los procesos de formulación e implementación de las Estrategias de Largo Plazo.

Eva presented all the climate policy tools that the country has for aligning actions to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, taking into account the different territories. At first, a diagnosis was prepared, a consultative process in which different sectors were consulted on the path for building the strategy, and currently the process is being identified to develop a public consultation to implement the strategy through four actions, which will be worked on with the aim of developing a national vision adapted and resilient to climate.

Finally, the session ended with a panel discussion in which representatives from the NDC Partnership, 2050 Pathways and the EUROCLIMA+ programme discussed the support options that each of these programmes and platforms can provide to countries to strengthen the formulation and implementation processes of Long-Term Strategies.

About EUROCLIMA+  

EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. 

The Programme's mission is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting mitigation, adaptation, resilience and climate investment. It is implemented according to the "Spirit of Team Europe" under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the AFD Group: the French Development Agency (AFD)/ Expertise France (EF), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Contacts

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