October 1, 2025

 

Despite opposition from denialist leaders and governments, the lack of progress in reducing emissions in many countries and sectors, and clear evidence that the climate system is changing faster than expected, climate action is not dead.

Chile knows this well. Our country has just presented its new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 2025-2035, the main instrument through which the signatory countries of the Paris Agreement express their voluntary commitments to address the climate crisis. This is the third update (after those of 2015 and 2020) and will be presented at COP30 in Brazil in November. This process not only demonstrates consistency, but has also made Chile a global benchmark: a country capable of exceeding its goals thanks to public-private collaboration and the continuity of state climate policies.

Consistency from government to government has been key to the private sector’s sustained investment in renewable energy. This is evident on several fronts: the mining sector has opted for renewable energy supply contracts, public transportation has integrated electric buses, and both industry and households are transitioning to low-emission models. All of this has been possible thanks to state policies that encourage openness to free trade, facilitate the rapid adoption of new technologies, attract foreign investment, and promote competitive electricity markets based on private investment and long-term contracts, without the need for subsidies or public spending.

Chile’s electricity generation sector has been the undisputed leader in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2016, it emitted a peak of 32.2 million tons of CO2, nearly a third of Chile’s total emissions, and by 2023 it was expected to emit 40% less, or 19.4 million tons of CO2, thanks to the massive influx of renewable energy, which will reach 65% of generation by 2024, along with the early closure of coal-fired power plants.

Today, we see that the major challenges of the future are linked to the transportation sector, which emitted 29.4 million tons of CO2, the manufacturing and construction industries, which emitted 16.1 million tons of CO2 in 2023, and the agricultural and waste sectors. This is reflected in the 2025 NDC, which incorporates, for example, wood construction as a major opportunity for emissions capture, as well as for new innovative technological development, through the development of a National Wood Construction Strategy that promotes the sustainable, safe, and efficient use of this and other renewable resources in the construction sector. The NDC also commits to sustainable forestry and other nature-based solutions that demonstrate that it is possible to promote private investment with appropriate regulation.

Thus, Chile is once again a global example of what can be achieved with broad consensus and public-private collaboration. We have made decisive progress on climate action thanks to appropriate regulation—based on scientific evidence—and our ability to innovate and generate trust, which mobilizes the large private capital investments necessary to combat the climate crisis and achieve sustainable development.

Courtesy of Diario Financiero