Chile and its path to becoming more sustainable

1. Betting on the sun
The Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, is characterized for being the most arid desert in the world. It practically does not rain, but there is a resource that exists in abundance and that our country is taking advantage of: the SUN. This part of the planet has one of the highest levels of solar radiation in the world, making it an oasis for the development of solar energy. In fact, Cerro Dominador is being built here, the first thermosolar plant in Latin America, which could supply electricity to almost one million people and which would start operations in 2020. To this must be added the multiple photovoltaic plants that are currently transforming Chile's energy matrix.

2. The first in the region to commit
The Paris Agreement required that each country submit to the United Nations an action plan with concrete measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, or the so-called "Nationally Determined Contributions" (NDCs). And Chile was the first in Latin America to do so in April 2020. But that is not all. Our country has also formally committed to becoming a carbon neutral nation by 2050.

3. A small action with a big impact
It started as a venture to help the most vulnerable sectors, but ended up being, in addition, a contribution to the environment. The Chilean start-up "Algramo", today recognized by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies in Latin America, sells bulk products such as dog food and detergents through machines to encourage the reuse of plastic containers. In this way, the customer saves the cost of packaging, pays a price in line with what he really buys and also contributes by reusing plastic that would otherwise have ended up in the sea. They used to operate in small neighborhood stores, but in response to COVID-19, they deliver their products on electric tricycles so as not to pollute during transport.

4. Moving towards pollution-free transport
They were arriving in drips and drabs. At the end of 2018 the first 100, then another 100 more and so on, until the Chilean capital became in less than a year the city with the most electric buses in the world, after Chinese cities. They have WIFI, air conditioning, among other amenities, but the attribute that Chileans are most proud of: the remarkable decrease in pollution, both atmospheric and acoustic.

5. Goodbye plastic bags
We used to use them massively, causing significant damage to the environment when we discarded them indiscriminately. But in 2018, Chile passed a law that banned the delivery of plastic bags in commerce, becoming the first nation in Latin America to restrict them. The measure forced the country to get used to it, and in just one year after the regulation was passed, the figures from Chile's Ministry of the Environment speak for themselves: 2.2 billion plastic bags stopped being used, which is equivalent to more than 16 thousand tons. That is, the weight of 13 thousand automobiles.