Chile to peak emissions by 2025, under strengthened climate pledge

In the midst of a global pandemic, government ministers stressed the need to build a sustainable, resilient economy for the long term.

Chile has committed to peaking its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, in an updated national plan presented virtually to the UN climate chief on Thursday.

The plan, by the country currently presiding over global efforts to raise climate ambition, includes phasing out coal power, promoting electric vehicles and expanding forests, on a path to carbon neutrality in 2050.

It sets a cap on annual emissions of 95 million tonnes CO2 equivalent by 2030, a substantially stronger target than Chile promised in its 2015 contribution to the Paris Agreement, and slightly stronger than the draft proposal. Over the decade 2020-30, emissions should not exceed 1,100Mt CO2e. These carbon budgets are to be enshrined in law, under a draft bill going through Congress.

After a rollercoaster year, in which Santiago offered to host UN climate talks in November 2019 then withdrew due to civil unrest, it signalled the government’s aspiration to climate leadership