Environment Minister presents Advisory Committee for Climate Action which will contribute to developing a climate change strategy

Environment Minister Carolina Schmidt led the first session of the Advisory Committee for Climate Action, an interdisciplinary, high-level group that will contribute to the participatory development of the Long-Term Climate Strategy (LTCS), a tool that will determine how Chile will move towards emissions-neutral and resilient development over the next 30 years.

Minister Schmidt remarked, “The climate crisis is not in quarantine. We must make progress on the development of tools for addressing the challenges that this phenomenon poses for our country.”

She added, “We must develop actions for combating climate change as a government policy and bodies like the Advisory Committee on Climate Change, which begins its work today. These initiatives are very important because they bring together voices from different fields in order to reach consensus about the country’s best strategy for addressing this phenomenon.”

The committee will also advise the Environment Ministry on processes for developing instruments for managing climate change and for the COP25 Presidency. It is expected to meet over ten times through the beginning of COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, which is when the LTCS is to be unveiled.

The Long-Term Climate Strategy

The LTCS is a tool that defines how the country will meet the goal of being carbon neutral and resilient by 2050. This goal was set in the Climate Change Framework Bill. The LTCS will contain general long-term guidelines that the country will follow in a crosscutting and integrated manner. The goal is to address the challenges posed by climate change over the next 30 years. Chile will move towards low greenhouse gas emissions until it reaches and maintains emissions neutrality; reduces vulnerability and increases resilience to the adverse effects of climate change; and meets the international commitments undertaken by the Chilean government.

The strategy will be based on four pillars: science, cost-effectiveness, integration and social. The participatory process of developing the LTCS will involve over 80 workshops and spaces in which stakeholders from the public and private sectors, academia and civil society, will take part. This will ensure representativity in terms of regions, young people and communities as well as gender criteria.

The most important contents include setting a national greenhouse gas emissions budget through 2050 based on the national budget for emissions through 2030 that was set in Chile’s updated NDC. Based on that goal for 2030, the LTCS will contain sectorial mitigation effects (emissions budgets for each sector) as well as adaptation indicators and goals. Furthermore, it contains guidelines for climate change adaptation and risk assessment based on the vulnerability of each specific sector.

International support

As part of the LTCS development process, Chile has received valuable technical and financial support from various international organizations including the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), ECLAC, Euroclima+, Global Environment Facility, GIZ, NDC Partnership, UN Environment Program, UNDP and the FAO.

“The European Union is a key strategic partner for Chile in regard to promoting its climate action goals. It has supported Chile's COP25 Presidency through its Euroclima+ and Partnership Tool programs, facilitating the participation of various stakeholders in climate change action in Chile and throughout Latin America. These include individuals from the world of science, young people, regional and municipal governments, and indigenous groups. Today, the European Union is continuing to work with Chile to achieve its 2050 carbon neutrality goal with projects such as the development of local fair transition plans and the coordination of the Advisory Committee for Climate Action, which brings together key stakeholders around this shared global challenge,” stated the European Union’s Ambassador to Chile, León de la Torre.

Yolanda Martinez, the IDB's representative in Chile, highlighted the support that the agency gives the country to develop a long-term strategy together with the Environment Ministry and in coordination with all of the pertinent ministries to meet the goals that the country has set in the fight against climate change. This support includes the use of innovative management models that employ robust (complex) modeling techniques and are implemented in collaboration with two Chilean universities to co-create a vision and ensure national engagement.

The World Bank representative in Chile, Virginia Brandon, stated that, “The World Bank has supported Chile throughout its COP25 Presidency through a technical and financial cooperation agreement that includes creating a broad national participatory consultation process for developing a Long-Term Climate Strategy (2050) in Chile. This process is being led in collaboration with the Environment Ministry.”