Chile

Mitigation Target

By 2020 Chile pledges to reduce emission by 20% below its business-as-usual emissions growth trajectory (with international support) in an effort to support its low carbon development goals. Focus is on achieving mitigation through energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy development, as well as land use change and forestry measures.

The Chilean energy sector accounts for 73% of the country’s non-LULUCF (land use, land-use changes and forestry) emissions Between 2000 and 2006, emissions from this sector grew the fastest increasing 13%. In 2006, electricity production (36%); mining, manufacturing, and industry (23%); and transportation (29%) made up most of the country’s energy emissions. The LULUCF sector represents a negative carbon balance nearing equal to about 25% of the country's emissions profile.

Regulatory Context

Chile established the National Advisory Committee on the Global Climate in 1996. The Committee played a key role in the preparation of the National Climate Change Strategy, followed by the National Climate Change Action Plan.

Bringing together representatives from Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economy, Public Works, Agriculture, Mining, Transportation and Telecommunications, Energy, and Environment ministries, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change was created in 2009 and the Ministry of the Environment, the Environmental Evaluation Service, the Superintendent for the Environment, and the Council of Ministers for Sustainability followed in 2010.

In 2013, Chile commenced long-term mitigation scenario planning, known as Mitigation Action Plans & Scenarios or MAPS. MAPS projects national level GHG emissions for a business-as-usual scenario as well as several other mitigation scenarios that depend on various actions. Target years include 2020, 2030, and 2050. PMR coordinates with work done on MAPS.

In September 2014, carbon tax legislation became law as part of a broader tax reform efforts. The tax will enter into force in 2017 and the first year of tax liability will be 2018.