From betting on clean energy generation and more sustainable public transportation to reducing plastic waste, Chile is a regional leader in initiatives that seek to protect the environment.
No more plastics: Chile was the first country in Latin America to ban discarded ban discarded plastics and even the delivery of plastic bags in commerce, allowing to reduce the presence of this material in daily life, reduce plastic waste and encourage both recycling and the circular economy. This effort is not minor, since food and delivery locations in our country generate 23,240 tons of discarded plastic per year, the equivalent of 5 Olympic swimming pools full of sludge, according to a study by Oceana and Plastic Oceans.
Carbon neutral by 2050: Chile is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, that is, that emissions of greenhouse gases, responsible for climate change, are equal to or lower than the absorption of these gases by nature. One of the main pillars to achieve this objective is to advance towards a clean energy matrix and leave fossil fuels in the past, for which Chile proposes to progressively phase out coal-fired power plants and increase the construction of non-conventional renewable energy plants. Chile's privileged geography allows the country to count today with the Cerro Dominadorthe first solar thermal power plant in Latin America, and soon Horizonte, currently under construction, which will become the largest wind power plant in the region, two examples of how the resource of the wind and the sun contribute to care for the environment and improve the quality of life of people.
Eletromobility: Chile is betting on sustainable public transport. The Ministry of Transport recently announced that in the third quarter of this year 107 new electric buses will enter into operation on the streets of Santiago. With this addition, the system's electric fleet will increase by 13%, reaching 883 zero emission buses. These numbers place Santiago as the second city in the world with the highest number of electric buses after the Chinese cities, and Chile as the leader in this matter at regional level.
Protection of the oceans: Currently, Chile has 10 parks and 5 marine reserves, which translates into about 1,500,000 km2 officially protected. This value represents more than 40% of the national Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a fact that has earned our country the recognition of the international community. In addition, Chile maintains a series of international alliances focused on ocean protection, among them the International Alliance Against Ocean Acidification, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmentand the promotion of international projects that give greater protection to the world's oceans.
If you want to know more about what Chile is doing to protect our oceans, click here.
Basic Law on Climate Change: This law makes it possible to institutionalize the fight against climate change as a state policy, which implies that the ecological approach be integrated into the decisions of all ministries. The standard establishes as a national goal that the country will be carbon neutral by 2050, which will be reviewed every five years to determine whether this goal has been achieved. Likewise, it proposes as a goal that the country be climate resilient, that is, that it be capable of adapting to the effects of climate change in the territories. In this way, it seeks to aim for a development that takes care of nature.
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