The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have an opportunity to rapidly reduce the impact of the transport sector, as they already have one of the cleanest energy grids

in the world and can further expand the capacity of renewable energies.

San José, Costa Rica, October 9, 2019. Environment and energy ministers, representatives of international organisations and the private sector highlighted the potential of electric mobility to increase the ambition of climate commitments in Latin America, during a side event of the preparatory meeting for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (PreCOP25) in Costa Rica.

Transport is responsible for 30% of global energy demand and a quarter of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Latin American and Caribbean countries have an opportunity to rapidly reduce the impact of the sector, as they have one of the cleanest energy grids in the world and can further expand the capacity of renewable energy.

The event was led by the Governments of Chile and Costa Rica, which jointly lead the negotiation process towards COP25, which will take place from December 2 to 13 in Santiago de Chile.

Chile's Environment Minister, Carolina Schmidt, and Costa Rica's First Lady, Claudia Dobles, opened the event along with UN Environment regional director, Leo Heileman, and Horst Pilger, sector chief of Regional Operations for Latin America and the Caribbean at the European Commission's Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development.

"Electric mobility has implications beyond emissions, such as economics (congestion) and public health." "An example of this: the city of São Paulo could literally come to a stop in 15 years due to congestion problems," Pilger said.

The meeting highlighted how through the transition to sustainable electric mobility countries can raise the level of ambition in the next generation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, to be presented in 2020, with a view towards achieving emissions neutrality by mid-century.

Taking part in this debate were the Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, the Minister of Energy of Chile, Juan Carlos Jobet, the Minister of Ecological Transition of Spain, Teresa Ribera, the National Secretary of Energy of Panama, Jorge Rivera Staff, the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Energy of Poland, and President of COP24, Michael Kurtyka.

The event also addressed the importance of regulatory frameworks in catalysing public commitment and private investment in favour of clean mobility, in a panel with the participation of Ecuadorian Congressman Esteban Albornoz, Chilean Senators David Sandoval and Alejandro Guillier, Argentine legislator and President of Globe International, Juan Carlos Villalonga, and Costa Rican Presidential Advisor Silvia Rojas.

Private sector representatives emphasised the need to create financial mechanisms and new business models to expand private investment in sustainable mobility, during a segment that included the participation of the executive president of the ICE Group of Costa Rica, Irene Cañas, the director of energy policy and climate change of Iberdrola Spain, Carlos Sallé Alonso, the president of the Casa de las Baterías Group Panama, Juan Octavio Díaz, the head of government and foreign affairs of the BMW Group, Guillermo Areas, and the chief energy specialist of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Sylvia Larrea Larrea.

The major challenges in matters of governance, financing and technology availability in the transition to electric mobility were addressed by the Costa Rican Government's director of climate change, Andrea Meza, the secretary general of the Sustainable and Low Carbon Transport Alliance (SLoCaT), Maruxa Cardama, and the Uruguayan Government's director of climate change, Paola Visca.

At the event, Chile's environment minister and Costa Rica's first lady presented the Me Comprometo initiative, which will encourage governments, legislators, businesses and citizen associations in Latin America and the Caribbean to present commitments in favour of electric mobility during COP25.

The Chilean presidency of COP25 called on the world's Transport Ministers to articulate how, through a higher level of ambition in the sector, they can contribute to the fulfilment of the objectives of the Paris Agreement.  The Me Comprometo initiative supports this call for action.

The meeting was organised with support from UN Environment, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the legislators' organisation Globe International, FIA Region IV, SLoCaT and the European Union's EUROCLIMA+ programme.

"Cities and countries around the world are making the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles as a strategy to mitigate emissions and it is critical that we can share the experiences of different countries to make the right decisions," added Claus Kruse, director of GIZ's MiTransporte project.

"In recent years, important technological and regulatory changes linked to electric mobility are occurring in the region. In this regard, we presented in Argentina, with a group of ten legislators and the support of the main automakers, a bill on electric mobility that has, among other objectives, a goal of zero emissions in public transport by 2030," said Villalonga, president of Globe International.

"The future of electric mobility requires a commitment from governments and the private sector within an appropriate legal and productive framework. Change must be imminent if we want a more secure and sustainable future," said Diego Cosentino, manager of FIA Region IV.

For more information, please contact: 

Communication Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean, UN Environment, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +507 305-3182.