

Chile is a leader on a variety of Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) initiatives, all of which are working to realize the multiple benefits of merging global efforts on climate and clean air. One of the most consequential outcomes of this collaboration is Chile’s work with the CCAC Action Programme to include Black Carbon mitigation in their long-term development strategy. These efforts resulted in Chile becoming one of the few countries to include Black Carbon in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), or their global climate change commitments.
“We must put people first when it comes to climate change. Climate action is not about cost it is about opportunities to make a better life,” said Chile’s Minister of Environment Carolina Schmidt at a CCAC high-level assembly. “We wait for all of you in Chile because now it is time for action.”
Schmidt added that because Chile knows there is a strong link between air pollution and climate action, the city of Santiago currently has the second largest fleet of electric buses in the world after China. In multiple cities Chileans are actively choosing to use electric transportation over other modes of travel.
Schmidt is preceded by a strong political legacy of action on air pollution. The former Minister of Environment, Marcelo Mena, was a co-chair of the CCAC from 2015-2017 and was awarded a 2017 Climate and Clean Air Awards Winner for his work to reduce short-lived climate pollutants and air pollution in Chile. Under his leadership, Chile created the “Plans of Prevention and Decontamination of Atmospheric Pollution,” which has led to significant reductions in air pollution. He helped facilitate 20 decontamination plans by the end of 2018, which helped achieve a reduction of particulate matter (PM 2.5) in 14 cities—including a 71 percent decrease in Santiago.
The CCAC’s "Supporting National Action and Planning on short-lived climate pollutants" (SNAP) Initiative also worked with a team at the University of Chile to evaluate the mitigation potential of black carbon emissions interventions. This resulted in a 2019 report outlining a series of recommendations for revising their NDC. After multiple consultations, a second report titled “Black carbon mitigation in Chile's updated Nationally Determined Contribution” was published in 2020. This report set a black carbon reduction target that was consistent with the greenhouse gas reduction target. As a result of these efforts, Chile made the impressive decision in 2020 to increase the aspirations of their NDC, including by stepping up their black carbon mitigation by 25 percent by 2030. In this, they served as an example to countries around the world that NDC’s can be a starting point instead of an ending point.
Chile has also led on Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) mitigation by partnering with the CCAC to pioneer effective and environmentally friendly alternatives. In 2017, Jumbo Supermarket in the city of Valdivia became the first in the country to install transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration, an alternative to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), through a CCAC-funded technology demonstration. This key project helped show that effective alternatives exist for countries like Chile with high ambient temperatures. This information served as important proof, particularly during the Kigali Amendment negotiations. As a result of the success of this demonstration, nine supermarkets and five food processing factories in Chile now also use the technology.
International Activities
National Climate Actions
Air Quality
Household Energy
Transportation
Agriculture
Energy Efficiency and HFCs
Waste
Climate Finance
Keeping organic matter out of landfills is a cost-effective way to cut methane emissions from waste. Achieving this requires policies that promote sorting, recycling or composting, but also...
En el contexto del Acuerdo de París, Chile ha revisado su Contribución Nacionalmente Determinada (NDC, por sus siglas en inglés). Bajo ese marco, el (CR)2, apoyó a la Oficina de Cambio...
Thanks in large part to the growing number of integrated assessments, tools and good examples, international interest in applying integrated co-governance approaches to solve connected climate,...
This is the energy efficiency assessment report in relation with the Chile Technology Demonstration Project in the Supermarket Sector implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (...
Spanish and English outcome documents from the 2018 event, "Diálogo de alto nivel técnico en el margen del Segmento de Alto Nivel de la Semana del Clima para América Latina y el Caribe".
This report presents results from a comprehensive assessment of the benefits and costs of air quality management in the Santiago Metropolitan Region over the past three decades. During this time...
The workshop aimed to build capacity amongst industry stakeholders and policy-makers on HFC alternative technologies, policies and standards; specifically, in the supermarket sector where...
The present Mitigation Plan for the Energy Sector is in total agreement with the National Energy Policy, in the sense of supporting a gradual transition towards an economy -and an energy matrix-...
Workshop on the Technological options of low globalwarming potential for refrigeration systems in the supermarket sector.
Date: November 7 and 8 of 2017.
Location: Hotel Neruda,...
“Burn Right” is a campaign launched in Sweden and Chile, along with a global online campaign sponsored by the CCAC. It asks woodstove users to followia few simple steps to get...
Presentation given at the Respira la Vida (BreatheLife) campaign launch in Talca, Chile.
This study includes a comprehensive assessment of the situation of urban climate finance in the three countries of South Africa, Chile and India with a specific focus on the partner cities of the...
A Spanish language public awareness brochure that explains the impacts of air pollution on health and the environment, the sources and impacts of four short-lived cliamte pollutants (black carbon...
The capacity-building program was developed as part of the "Demonstration project To Adopt Transcritical CO2 Technology in Supermarket Refrigeration Systems" project funded by the Climate and...
This is the verification report of the installation of the transcritical CO2 technology in Tottus Santiago and Jumbo Valdivia, in relation with the Chile Technology Demonstration Project for the...
A Spanish language public awareness brochure that explains the impacts of air pollution on health and the environment, its sources and impacts and the action of the government of Chile to...
An emissions model for HFCs in Chile based on the information and materials generated in an earlier country review of HFC consumption supported by the CCAC.
EVALUACIÓN DE LAS NECESIDADES NACIÓNALES PARA LA ADÓPCIÓN DE LA TECNÓLÓGI A DE CÓ2 TRANSCRI TICÓ EN SISTEMAS DE REFRIGERACIÓN
Información y datos prácticos para productores, comercializadores y consumidores de leña para calefacción o cocina en el centro sur del país.
Programme of Workshop
In order to ascertain Chile's hydrochluorocarbon (HFC) consumption the Ministry of Environment of Chile and the United Nations Development Program, at the request of the CCAC, commisioned this...